Rightly Understanding God’s Word: Whole-Book Context, Part 2, by Craig S. Keener
Does the promise that Jesus will be with us “till the end of the age” (28:20) imply that once the age ends he will no longer be with us? Such an idea would miss entirely the point of the text. Jesus is promising to be with us in carrying out his commission (28:19); that must be accomplished before the age ends (24:14), so the nations can be judged according to how they have responded to this message (25:31-32). Taking this passage in the context of the entire Gospel provides us plenty of preaching material without even stepping outside Matthew!
10. Loyalty to the Death in John 13:34-35
Jesus is promising to be with us in carrying out his commission—accomplished before the age ends—so the nations can be judged according to how they have responded to this message.
The immediate context makes this example clearer. Jesus takes the role of a humble servant by washing his disciples’ feet (13:1-11); he also calls on his disciples to imitate his servanthood (13:12-17). In the same context, we understand the degree to which he became a servant for us by noting what he would suffer: Jesus and the narrator keep talking about Jesus’ impending betrayal (13:11, 18-30). Jesus explains that he is being “glorified” (13:31-32), i.e., killed (12:23-24); he is about to leave the disciples (13:33), and Peter is not yet spiritually prepared to follow Jesus in martyrdom (13:36-38). This is the context of loving one another “as” Jesus loved us. We are called to sacrifice even our lives for one another!
The rest of the Gospel of John illustrates more fully Jesus’ example of love and servanthood which culminates in the cross.
11. Judah’s Punishment in Genesis 38
In his attacks on Christianity, South African writer Ahmed Deedat complains that the Bible is full of pornography and that Genesis 38, the story of Judah and Tamar, is a “filthy, dirty story.” Did the Bible include this story simply to satisfy base interests of ungodly readers? Or have Deedat and others missed the entire point of the story?
Whole-book context shows us more.
Category: Biblical Studies, Spring 2004