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Genesis 1-2 root the biblical narrative in God’s original creational intentions rather than in the world as it is today. This is crucial. Genesis 3 onwards focuses on the current fallenness of creation, but the Bible opens in a setting that is very good and one in which rest and relationship are valued over work and wealth. A missional hermeneutic takes seriously the Biblical message of Creation.

Readers are introduced to a powerful Creator who crafts a world of wonder and delight. This creator God is not aligned with any particular people but exists and reigns as the King of all Creation. But Israel’s God is not the typical ancient Near Eastern despot. Israel’s God works for the good of all Creation by moving it toward very goodness. Our present world is not a very good world that is moving toward chaos. But the world in which we find ourselves began as a very good world that became broken and fractured due to the choices of humanity, but remains one in which the Creator God now works to deliver both Creation and humanity from effects of human sinfulness.

The Bible insists that the God who saves us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the same God who created the universe. The Bible will consistently insist on such a monotheistic view of reality. Monotheism has been the long term presupposition of Western culture, but as we find ourselves in the early decades of the 21st century, monotheism is loosing traction. In part through increased interactions with the world’s religions through global migratory patterns as well as through the “world is flat” phenomenon rooted in the reach of the Internet and global commerce, the nature of God is up for grabs. There are again a plethora of gods available to follow. Some are named “gods” such as Vishnu or Allah; others are the political ideologies of the left or right and still others lifestyles such as consumerism or hedonism. Religious and intellectual relativism is the order of the day. In other words, as modern readers of the Bible, we find ourselves more and more each day to be living in a world more similar than we may care to imagine to the world that gave rise to the Bible. Savvy readers of Scripture recognize this as a fresh opportunity to introduce the Gospel anew to the world.

What do you think?

© 2010 Brian D. Russell

Tags: Biblical Studies, Creation, Genesis, Hermeneutics, Mission, New Testament, Old Testament, biblical theology, culture, humanity, idolatry, metanarrative, missional church, missional hermeneutic, missional hermeneutics, missional leadership, missional reading, world mission, world religion by brian
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This continues our look at the Resurrection scenes in Luke 24. Scroll down to read the earlier posts.

In the climactic verses Luke 24:36-49, Jesus appears fully to his gathered disciples. The Resurrected Jesus is before them in all of his glory. There reaction however is puzzling. Reports of Jesus’ resurrection have been trickling in all day (appearances to women and now the report from Cleopas and his friend). Let’s read the text:

NRS Luke 24:36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you– that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

This passage breaks up neatly into two sections: vv. 36-43 narrates Jesus’ appearance to his astonished disciples and the physical actions that he undertakes to put them at ease; vv. 44-49 contain the Words that Jesus proclaimed to the Eleven regarding their future mission.

I have always been intrigued by Luke’s remark about the disciples in 24:41: “And while they still did not believe because of joy…”

It is as though the disciples were unable to believe because it all seemed too good to be true.
It almost seems counter intuitive. How could they not believe? How could joy keep them from belief? Perhaps the possibility of Jesus’ life was too profound to grasp. After all, if Jesus were alive, then all that He claimed about himself would be true. Jesus would be the Messiah. The Age of salvation would be at hand. God would be acting to bring renewal, hope, and restoration to a broken world. There would truly be a cause bigger than ourselves for which to live.

It is worth pondering this. How many of us today are unable to believe fully the Gospel because of joy? If the Gospel story was really true, how would your life change?

© 2007 Brian D. Russell , Revised 2009 & 2010.

Tags: Biblical Studies, New Testament, metanarrative, missional church, missional leadership, missional reading, resurrection by brian
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I posted an earlier version of this essay on 3/8. I have updated it in light of additional reflection and class discussion.

Here is the latest edition:
The Missional Character of God in Genesis 2-4

A missional hermeneutic of the Scriptures is acutely interested in tracing God’s missional activity as presented in the Scripture. Those who work in missional hermeneutics begin with the metanarrative in the Bible. In this essay, I want to comment briefly on God’s response to human disobedience in Genesis 2-4. These chapters begin to offer a portrait of God’s missional activity specifically. Part of the power of this portrayal is the overarching grace and mercy present in God’s response. It is important in a missiological reading of these texts to recognize that this is a suprising element. Sin has consequences and these texts make no bones about the graveness of sin and its repercussions are immediate and creation distorting. Yet in spite of human rebellion and callous disregard of God’ creational intentions, the Creator does not withdraw and leave creation to unravel through its own devices. Rather, God continues to offer guidance and relationship. The biblical God is not merely a “fair weather deity”; the LORD God remains engaged in the messiness of human affairs in order to act redemptively.

The backdrop to these texts are the creation stories: 1:1-2:3 and 2:4-2:25. These offer a portrait of God’s creational intentions and humanity’s role within them. We are also introduced to God’s missional character as one who acts to bring order, beauty, and rest to Creation. Humanity stands at the pinnacle of God’s creative work and at the center of God’s plans. Humanity was created to serve as God’s visible representatives before Creation to serve as stewards over it and to fill it so that God may be witnessed to and glorified all over creation.

The tragic story of Genesis 3:1-7 undoes this original plan. Humanity is shown to lack trust in the true sovereign over creation. How does God respond to the disobedience of Adam and Eve?

Let us consider these key post-Fall texts in Genesis 3-4:

3:9 “Adam, where are you?”
On one hand, this is one of the saddest moments in Scripture. The relationship between humanity and God has been ruptured from the intimate portrayal in Genesis 2:4-25 to such an extent that Adam and Eve hide from their Creator. On the other hand, this line demonstrates God’s continued engagement with humanity despite their disobedience. God doesn’t withdraw from Creation – he goes looking for his lost people. The verb used for God’s pursuit of humanity is qr’ “called.” The Lord calls out to a humanity that has alienated itself through its actions.

3:9ff God continues to speak with humanity in the Garden. Humanity’s sin does not mark the end of verbal revelation.

3:21 “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”
The immediate result of Adam and Eve’s consumption of the fruit of the forbidden tree is the realization of their own nakedness. This marks the irony of their disobedience. They were seeking wisdom and instead reveal their own folly. They move from “naked and unashamed” in chapter two to “naked and ashamed” in their new heightened state. Yet, God shows great mercy here. Instead of leaving them exposed and humiliated, he graciously provides a suitable covering for the man and woman.

4:1-2 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
In giving birth to her firstborn, Eve recognizes the hand of God. God’s creational mandate for humanity of “being fruitful and multiplying” remains valid. God continues to permit humanity to fulfill its mission. Disobedience does not alter humanity’s ability to fill the earth.

4:6-7 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
This is perhaps the most astonishing example of missional engagement in these chapters. In these verses, God attempts an intervention before Cain takes a disastrous road. He offers a grave warning to Cain and offers him an alternative path that would open the way to a new life. This profound act of grace goes unheeded but it demonstrates that God continues to desire the best for humanity.

Moreover, God’s verbal revelation to Cain suggests that God’s Word continues even in a post-Garden of Eden world. God’s revelation is not confined to Eden but is operative and available outside of Eden. Humanity is expelled from the Garden but this does not mean that humanity is cut off from verbal communication. It may not heed God’s Word, but it will be available to those with ears to hear.

4:15 But the LORD said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
In a remarkable act of mercy, God protects Cain from the very fate suffered by his brother. Unlike Cain who showed no such mercy to Abel, God provides Cain with a protective mark.

4:17-24 Cain to the 7th Generation
Cain is not merely a “fugitive and wanderer” as the LORD had spoken (v. 12). Cain settles in the land of Nod. There he marries and has a son Enoch. Moreover he founds a city named after his own son. Cain is not cut off from humanity. Instead he has descendants. The pattern is familiar. There are consequences to Cain’s actions, but God’s mercy continues to show its face.

4:25-26 Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.
God works to redeem the death of Abel by blessing Adam and Eve with another son, Seth. The last sentence of verse 26 suggests that this side of the family begins the proper worship of Yhwh. This is surely the response desired by God in his missional response to the infestation of sin in humanity. Most English translation use a plural here suggesting unnamed persons responding to Yhwh. The Hebrew in 4:26 is singular. The closest possible subject is Enosh or the line of Seth in general. The LXX clearly understands Enosh or the line of Seth as the one who begins to “call upon the name of Yhwh.” The word translated “callED” (Heb qr’) is the same one used in 3:9 of God’s initial response to humanity’s sin.

Concluding Reflections
1) God’s saving actions for humanity reach their climax and fullest revelation in the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. But God begins the movement that will culminate in Jesus immediately upon the entrance of sin in the world. Thus, from the beginning of the Bible to the end, it is God who initiates salvation.

2) God’s mercy and grace in response to human sin and messiness serves as a missional model for the community of faith. Sin is not taken lightly and its grave affects are clear, but God continues to reach out with hope and love to His fallen world. In fact, God takes the initiative to redeem humanity. As noted above, God’s first response is to call out: “Adam, where are you?” or simply “Where are you?” God makes the first move. Yes, sin is profoundly tragic, but it does not alter God’s desire for real relationship with humanity.

3) These texts give no warrant for a knee-jerk withdrawl from engagement with the world. The community of faith, if faithful to God’s missional model, will remain engaged in the world rather than seeking to separate and build a bulwark around itself to keep the world out. Genesis 3-11 offers a snapshot of the world that we inhabit. It is not merely some far off place. If God continues to engage his lost world, this remains our mandate as well.

4) There are persons who will respond to God’s missional actions. God shows great patience and acts broadly in search of those who will respond to his grace. This suggests that followers of Christ should practice a consistent and persistent witness of loving service and clear communication of the Gospel to as wide a population as possible. As God’s missional work in Genesis 3 and 4 involved both words and deeds, so should ours. The only tangible response to God in these chapters is the actions of Enosh in 4:26. A person in the line of Seth began to call upon God’s name. The word call (Heb qr’) brings to mind God’s call to Adam in 3:9. Finally, God’s invitation for relationship is heeded. The lesson here is about faithfulness. God’s people must commit to offer a clear and persistent witness to the Gospel. There is no guarantee of a response from everyone, but this text reminds us that there will be some who will indeed.

© 2010 Brian D. Russell

Tags: Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, Mission, Old Testament, Wesleyan theology, bible translation, metanarrative, missional church, missional hermeneutic, missional hermeneutics, missional leadership, missional reading, world mission by brian
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What does a missional hermeneutic or a missional approach to reading Scripture look like? Here are a few thoughts about how one may profitably read Genesis 1:1 through the lens of missional hermeneutics.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and earth.” So reads the opening sentence of the First Testament. The first two chapters of the Bible unfold God’s creative activity and offer a snapshot of God’s plans and intentions for Creation. Genesis 1:1 is crucial for a couple of reasons. First, it affirms that there is an active personal deity behind all that is. The creation is not the result of an impersonal force or forces. It is not an accident or the result of some cosmic battle between gods. God (Heb elohim) will later be identified specifically as Israel’s covenant God known as the LORD (Heb Yhwh). Second, though Genesis 1:1-2:3 explicitly challenges the theology of the creation stories of Israel’s neighbors, it remains staunchly international in focus and in scope. It is vital to make the simple observation that Israel’s Scripture opens with its more generic name for God (Heb elohim). In Hebrew, this noun is ambiguous in form and referent. It is a plural noun and can be translated “gods.” But in the context of the Scriptures of Israel, the plural form is deployed with Israel’s god as the clear referent. It is not until Genesis 2:4 that the reader of the Bible encounters God’s personal and relational name—Yahweh (typically rendered LORD in our English translations). There the form is Yahweh Elohim (the LORD God). In other words, Genesis 2:4 links explicitly elohim of Genesis 1:1 with the personal name of Israel’s God that was revealed to Moses at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 3 and 6). Why is this important? I think that it points to the missional intent of the Scriptures. If the Bible opened “In the beginning Yahweh created the heaven and the earth”, this claim (though completely true) forces the reader to react to Israel’s claim that its god Yahweh is the Creator. Instead, the Bible opens with 35 recurrences of elohim before one encounters Yhwh in 2:4. Notice the power and wisdom of this word selection. Genesis 1:1-2:3 audaciously argues for a solitary and powerful Creator, but refuses to name the deity. The opening of the Bible demands only a belief in God or gods as the precondition for reading its pages. It allows the narrative to shape the reader’s understanding of God. Last, it affirms that the created world, all that is, is separate from God. Rocks and trees are not divine. Dogs and cats are not divine. Women and men are not divine. The environment may be beautiful but it is not god. From the opening verse of the Bible, the reader encounters a transcendent deity who stands over creation as Lord and King of Creation. This is all present in merely the opening verse.

What do you think?

© 2010 Brian D. Russell

Tags: Biblical Studies, Creation, Genesis, Hermeneutics, Mission, Old Testament, bible translation, biblical theology, humanity, imago dei, metanarrative, missional church, missional hermeneutic, missional hermeneutics, missional leadership, missional reading, world mission, world religion, worldview by brian
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I completed Day 2 of DM802 Biblical Interpretation for the Church and the World for the Beeson International Leaders cohort. The cohort consists of students from Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Liberia. It is a true privilege to engage these church leaders from the global Christian movement.

The course is the required hermeneutics class for Asbury Theological Seminary’s D.Min. program. I am covering the required elements through lens of a missional hermeneutic. Today I present an overview of the metanarrative of Scripture: Creation - Fall - Israel - Jesus the Messiah - Church - New Creation. I present the materials with an emphasis on the Scriptural call for God’s people to serve as a missional community that reflects God’s character to/for/in the world. In the process three broad themes emerge: mission, community, and holiness. I find these three themes serve as a trustworthy guide to understanding the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.

I have found the Beeson Pastors to be n fun and engaging group of missional leaders and thinkers. They have pressed me for clarification and helped me immensely this week to sharpen my own thinking about missional hermeneutics. The material is resonating in the class. I am always grateful to God for such times.

Here is a picture of my new friends:

Tags: Biblical Studies, Creation, D.Min., Doctor of Ministry, Hermeneutics, Holiness, Leadership, Mission, New Testament, Old Testament, Wesleyan theology, asbury theological seminary, biblical theology, church, ethos, metanarrative, missional church, missional hermeneutic, missional hermeneutics, missional leadership, missional reading, missionary, theological education, world mission, world religion by brian
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One of my favorite courses to teach at Asbury Theological Seminary is Introduction to the Old Testament. This class is one of Asbury’s required biblical studies courses. In this course, I introduce students to the historical background, literature, and theology of the Old Testament. My distinct contribution to the genre of OT Intro courses is my framing of the course within a commitment to global mission and a full presentation of missional hermeneutics within the course lectures.

For those who are interested, here is a video that captures the missional framework for the course. I am also including of copy of the syllabus and the book list:

Let me know if you have any questions about this course in particular or about the Orlando campus of Asbury Theological Seminary.

Tags: Biblical Studies, Community, Holiness, Leadership, Mission, Old Testament, asbury theological seminary, calling, church, education, humanity, incarnation, learning, metanarrative, missional church, missional hermeneutic, missional hermeneutics, missional leadership, missional reading, missionary, seminary by brian
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