December 17, 2006

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

 

Wasted Space in the Bible?

 

Introduction

 

a.      We must all admit that there are parts of the Bible that we mostly ignore.  We prefer some writings in the Bible over others; many read the Psalms more than the historical and apocalyptic writings.

b.     Peter wrote that Paul wrote some things which are hard to understand.  (2 Peter 3:16.)  The very chapter in which Peter wrote that is found some difficult material by him.

c.      We should admit that all parts of the Bible are not of equal value.  The destruction of ancient empires is not equal in value to the events surrounding the Cross of Jesus Christ.

d.      After having admitted these things, we should acknowledge that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.  Therefore, if it is inspired of God, all Scripture should be respected and received as something important.  God has not given us hundreds of volumes; the material given by inspiration is very limited.

e.      I affirm that there is no wasted space in the Bible.  Even though some parts are more important at different times in history, all Scripture is profitable.  There is a divine purpose behind everything that He has given.

 

Genealogies

 

There are many chapters in the Bible where ancient names occur.  Few readers of the Bible spend little time reading these names.  It seems that this is wasted space.  Why would God want us to know these genealogies back to Abraham, Noah, or Adam?  There are, in fact, several good purposes that they serve.

 

Genesis 5: This chapter provides the family names from Adam to Noah.  Genesis 6-9 is the story of the Flood.  All of these families who were still alive were destroyed except eight people, Noah and his family.  The first passage says, “This is the book of the generations of Adam.”  This signifies that this was a written record.  This chronology mentions the creation of man in the image of God.  (5:2.)  The clear intent of this chronology is to set forth a record of man from Adam to Noah.  There are ten patriarchs in this genealogy.  The New Testament says of Enoch that he was the seventh from Adam.  (Jude 14.)  Enoch did not see death, but was translated because he pleased God.  We can assume from this, since he is numbered as the 7^th man, that there are no so-called gaps in this genealogy.  If so, how could he be numbered by inspiration?  This matches the list of names given in this text.

 

Several interesting things should be noted in this period.  1) Adam died during the lifetime of Enoch. 2) Enoch gave birth to Methuselah who died in the year of the Flood. 3) The number of years between Adam and Noah was 1656 years, assuming that there are no gaps. 4) Since these men lived long lives, many of these 10 patriarchs knew one another.  Methuselah lived 969 of the 1656 years between Adam and Noah.

 

   Genesis 10.  “These are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth.”  (v. 1)  The purpose of this chapter is to give the beginning of a new genealogy from the Flood.

 

   1 Chronicles 1-9.  This is a lengthy chronology from Adam to the tribes of Israel.  The two records of 1^st and 2^nd Chronicles was written after the return of the Jews from Babylon.  The purpose seems evident—to remind the Jews of their rich heritage.  It is interesting that the writer begins with Adam and names the 10 patriarchs between Adam and Noah, then he continues after the Flood with the 3 sons of Noah. 

 

   Matthew 1.  The New Testament opens with a genealogy.  It must be important.  This genealogy is called “the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, and the son of Abraham.”  (verse 1.)  Then Matthew names the descendants from Abraham to Jesus Christ.  Most Jews knew their genealogy to Abraham.  They prided themselves in being related to father Abraham.

 

   Matthew gave a good overview of the generations from Abraham to Jesus in verse 17.  Three periods of 14 generations each existed from Abraham to David, from David to Babylonian captivity, and from Babylon to Jesus.

   Luke 3.  Luke gives the genealogy from Jesus back to Adam.  We should never think of this part of Scripture as wasted space.  It is in fact very meaningful.  It gives a historical connection between Adam and Jesus Christ, who is the Savior.  This means that Jesus was a real historical person, not just an invention of religious leaders.  Jesus is not like Santa Claus or the Easter bunny, as some have compared them.  Can anyone give the lineage of Santa Claus or the tooth fairy?  We can give the genealogy of Jesus Christ!

 

   Value of the genealogies.  1) The lineage of Jesus Christ is established.  2) Christianity is about the history of man from Adam to our day.  Contrary to what some say, we know our origin, or roots.  Just as the exiles in Babylon needed to know their history and background, so do we.  3) They show that God is faithful to his promises to Abraham, David and Israel.  God may not always be fast, but He is always faithful.  4) Caution: Jews might overstate the value of being related physically to Abraham.  It is not the physical relationship that counts, but the likeness of one’s faith with Abraham. (1 Tim. 1:4, Titus 3:9, Rom. 4:12.)

 

Greetings & Personal Notes

 

   Another area where we do not spend much time is at the end of letters, especially by Paul.  One trait of letters is that they reflect relationships between the sender and the receiver.  Is this wasted space in Scripture that has no meaning to us?  A lengthy chapter in Romans (16) is given primarily to greetings.  I counted 35 names in this chapter which includes those sending greetings along with Paul and those being addressed.  Other letters of Paul do not contain as many believers personally addressed as does Romans 16, but there are many believers, co-workers and house-churches named by Paul.

 

   Note the words that describe their relationships: brother, sister, servant, saints, first-fruits, beloved, his mother and mine, church, approved in Christ and elect.  Some were risk-takers with Paul in the Gospel.  Paul did not take time to explain their rich terms.  The Roman Christians knew their meanings.   Now is time for Paul to greet people; he uses spiritual terms and relation-ships.  The terms are Christ-saturated: chosen in the Lord, etc.

 

   Paul said to the Romans that he had often purposed to visit them, but he was hindered.  (1:13.)  He explained to the Corinthians why he had not visited them again.  Some teachers opposed Paul at Corinth claiming that they were superior apostles to Paul.  To his credit, Paul sent Titus to visit them and bring a report back to him.  (2 Cor. 1 & 7.)  Paul’s failure to return to Corinth hurt his work in that church.  It is hard to fault Paul because he was so busy, but this was a mistake.  In addition, we have more letters to the churches by Paul than by any other apostle that we know about.

 

   Applications.  We do not write by inspiration and cannot address churches like Paul did, but we can learn something important from Paul’s greetings.  They showed a sincere and genuine concern for their welfare after he converted them.  Relationships are very important.  Christianity is not just about laws and rules.  It is also about fellowship and relationships.  Paul did not always get along with everyone.  Paul and Mark had a sharp disagreement; Paul did not want Mark to travel with him anymore.  So Paul and Silas formed one team; Barnabas and John Mark formed another one.  (Acts 15:36-41.)  Later, he did say that Mark was profitable to him for the ministry.  But even in the midst of this record, you find Paul’s desire to go and visit the churches that they had established.  (Acts 15:36.)  He cared about how they were doing.

 

Apocalyptic Literature

 

   There are several books of the Bible that are highly figurative and express judgments from God.  They are doomsday, the day of the Lord, in that intervention from God is necessary to stop evil and bring justice.  Evil is rampant; Satan and those who do evil are represented as wild animals with many horns.  Evil governments are often represented as a harlot.  (Rev. 17.)

 

   Some of the apocalyptic books are Ezekiel, parts of Daniel, Zechariah, and Revelation.  Are these books a waste of space in the Bible?  No.  We should never regard them as such, even though, admittedly, we find them difficult to understand.  They are not difficult to read; therefore, we should read them.  The value of these books is:  1) There were many such books written in the Jewish era.  They read and understood them.  Such books were of great benefit to the Jews and Christians.  2) This language was a way to express the desperate days in which they lived.  They longed for God to intervene and defeat their enemies.  In vivid, colorful language, God sent a message which comforted them and warned the enemies of God.  3) The title of Revelation means something unveiled.  It is also called the revelation of Jesus Christ.

 

   A good question to ask is: Would God send a message to people that they could not understand?  No.  (See Eph. 3:4.)  What I have learned from the apocalyptic books is that most of the symbols are interpreted for us.  See Revelation 1:20; 17:9, 18.  Such is true in Daniel and Ezekiel, as well.

 

The Old Testament

 

   Some have mistakenly thought that the Old Testament, since Christians are not under that covenant, is not important for Christians.  It has been sadly neglected.  We could ask, Is the Old Testament wasted space for us today.  Should we study the prophets of old?

 

   The New Testament itself answers.  After quoting Psalm 69:9, Paul wrote: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”  (Rom. 15:4.)  “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.”  (Rom. 4:23-25.)

 

   Paul noted with Timothy that he was taught the holy scriptures from a child.  These Scriptures would have been the Old Testament.  It was this covenant that Paul was referring to directly when he said: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work.”  (2 Tim. 3:15-17.)

 

  If we counted the OT passages quoted by NT writers, we would probably be astonished.  The OT is the NT concealed; the NT is the OT revealed.  Paul wrote, “I through the Law am dead to the Law.”  (Gal. 2:19.)  If one goes to the Law, it sends him back to Christ.  If one goes to the NT, it often refers to what is written before.