Carey Jones, the Senior Managing Editor of Serious Eats, wrote in her blog (August 2012): “When a Cheesecake Factory moved into my suburban California hometown at the end of my high school years, there was one thing about it that excited me above all else. It wasn’t the 33 flavors of cheesecake, or the choice of about two dozen entrées from every imaginable cuisine for $12. No, I was excited about their soda selection. Because for about two bucks, they’d give you a stunning 32 ounces of Fresca from the fountain – and then they’d give you free refills.”

Unfortunately we don’t have a Cheesecake Factory here in Paducah – the closest is in Nashville – but grab your favorite cold drink and let’s finish this blog series. Pastor Tommy’s favorite soft drink is Diet Dew, in case you have in mind some early Christmas shopping. Pastor Steve used to keep a fridge full of Bubba Cola, but sophistication has overtaken him, and he now leans heavily on Code Red.

But back to our series. If you’re looking for a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, we’re almost there. Now that you’ve nailed down the text you’re exegeting, and come to understand its context in the Bible, let’s move right along …

10. Comprise a tentative exegetical outline of the text. Do this by stating the passage’s subject (what the writer is talking about) and the passage’s complement (what the writer is saying about this subject). Be as concise as possible. This is the “big idea” of your passage. (In your study, as you transition back and forth between text and context, you may alter your “big idea” just a bit along the way. That’s perfectly O.K. – this is a work in progress.)
11. Outline the internal structure of the text. Look for key connectives, repetition, contrasts, and comparisons. (If your passage is narrative literature – like the Gospels or Acts – you will spend less time on this step, and more time on relating your text to the book’s preceding sections and its broader flow.) If you’re going to study the text in its original language, now is the time for that.
12. Now that you’ve thoroughly dissected your text, adjust your “big idea” if necessary.
13. Consult good Bible commentaries, as well as reliable historical background sources, to gain additional insights into your text. You may want to take a look at one or two of your favorite devotional commentaries as well. Remember that, when it comes to really understanding the flow of the argument of your text, you don’t want to end your study until you feel like an “expert” who has mastered the case. This is hard work.

I know this has become a laborious outline, but I thank you for sticking with it. We’ll end this series after one more blog entry with my final comments on this subject. In her blog, Carey Jones concluded: “I’ve always thought Fresca one of the most underappreciated citizens of the diet soda world.” My beloved church family, you are anything but underappreciated. I appreciate, with all my heart, your consistent encouragement – and your partnership in the serious study of God’s Word. You’re my Fresca. Your heart for the Word keeps me “fresh” in the most exciting enterprise that I can ever imagine taking up for the glory of Christ.

Happy studies!

Pastor Charles

Chef Marc Murphy just published his debut cookbook, Season with Authority: Confident Home Cooking. Part worldly epicure, part laid-back surfer, Marc fell in love with French and Italian cuisine during a childhood spent living throughout Europe (his dad was a “globetrotting diplomat”). He went on to work in some of the most highly esteemed kitchens in the world from Paris to Monte Carlo, and today Marc is one of New York’s most popular chefs. You might have seen him on the hit cable series CHOPPED.

In a question-and-answer interview with The New York Times, Murphy attributed his cooking influences to his mother and grandparents, and he credited his strength and leadership to Winston Churchill’s My Early Life: 1874–1904. Who knew?

When you and I take up the Word of God – our “daily bread” – our first impressions of the text we’re studying matter. Always remember: God’s Word is “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12-13) – it is always speaking to us and influencing us. That’s the power of God’s Spirit at work impressing Biblical truth upon our hearts.

Last time I began an outline for you of an initial approach to a sound Bible study (Steps 1-6). We’ll pick up there now.

7. Identify, and perhaps outline, the main idea of the book. (You might think of it as the book’s main “argument.”) Don’t worry about sophistication – just focus on accuracy. This is very important, as the specific passage that you’re studying is impacted by this controlling, overarching idea of the book where it’s found.
8. Notice the book’s structure, and how your passage fits in. (Look for summary statements, key transition words/conjunctions, and the introductions to new topics as clues to figuring out the book’s structure.)
9. Begin to exegete your specific passage by determining the specific parameters of the passage. Normally you should plan on exegeting at least a paragraph in English. If you’re going to teach this passage, you don’t want to cover more text than you have time to teach. But you also want enough material to work with. Establish the limits, and stick to them. This will be your primary text. DRAW THE LINE!

More next time.

Chef Murphy admits a general dislike for okra. So, you see – when it comes to food – even celebrated chefs draw the line.

Pastor Charles

I had intended for this to be a 12-part series, so I suppose that it’s about time for me to start wrapping it up. The moment has come to start positioning all the ingredients just right so that we can prepare to roll up the tortilla. (Can you tell I haven’t had lunch yet?)

Anyway, how can we picture the exegetical process as a whole? Dr. Walter Russell of the Talbot School of Theology has an extensive background in collegiate ministries, university teaching, and the local-church pastorate. He recommends that we envision the process of exegesis like an hourglass: wide at the top, skinny in the middle, and wider again at the bottom. For all intents and purposes, what Dr. Russell is saying is that – as we study a passage of Scripture – we start with synthesis (the bird’s-eye view), then move to analysis (the worm’s-eye view), and then move back to synthesis (the bird’s-eye view).

Let me offer some specific suggestions about how to get started.

1. Read the whole book where your passage is found. We always want to take in the big picture of the Bible that is before us.
2. Write down your best overall summary statement of the book. Keep it short and simple (preferably one sentence).
3. Wait a few days, and read the whole book again. If possible, read it aloud. This allows you not only to see it, but to hear it. Very important.
4. Again, write down your best overall summary statement of the book. Keep it short and simple (preferably one sentence).
5. Compare your summary statements. Which is best? Why?
6. You may want to do this whole-book reading one more time. You’ll be surprised at the insight that you will gain just from this initial process of reading God’s Word.

We’ll pick up there next time.

Chef Mourad Lahlou and his award-winning team have opened a signature restaurant in San Francisco. It’s called Mourad. The restaurant design is authentic Moroccan, in perfect harmony with the cuisine. You see, Chef Mourad was born and raised in a large family in Marrakesh. He came to the U.S. when he was twenty to study economics, but missed the food of his homeland so much that he eventually taught himself how to recreate his favorite childhood dishes using local ingredients. Now Lahlou’s career as a pioneering Moroccan American chef is an international success.

Do you and I crave the food of our homeland (First Peter 2:2)? Do we hunger and thirst for that alone which can satisfy our souls (Matthew 4:4)? Do we delight in the very best food (Isaiah 55:2)? Dig in!

Pastor Charles

You all have been so gracious to hang in there with me for this long blog series. Just a few more entries to go, and then we’ll take up some new themes.

Could I interest you in a Himalayan salt block? They’re made from natural salt deposits (from the Himalayas) that can be heated on your grill as you sear your vegetables or your seafood. They can even be used as antimicrobial cutting boards! Mark Bittman calls the salt block “the boldest new idea in cooking since the matchstick.”

Why do I mention this? Because the secret to good cooking is often found in the most basic ingredients.

When you and I take up a Bible passage, we have to determine its specific literary style. This is also known as its genre. Like salt in cooking, genre is foundational. It is usually one of the first matters that we want to settle as we embark on a new text.

In which style of writing were these individual words written? This is vitally important, as Scripture can be poetry, proverbs, history, parables, sermons, letters, apocalyptic literature, and on and on. The determination of a text’s literary genre will determine what rules we employ as we seek to rightly and wisely interpret the passage.

It would be wrong-headed to digest a parable and an epistle in precisely the same way. Each type of literature must be approached according to its distinct genre. For example, we cannot build an exhaustive doctrine of “the afterlife” on the interpretation of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). We do discover in that parable the concept of what might be thought of as different sections of Hades, but that’s the only place in Holy Scripture where we find that kind of description. So we can’t know beyond a doubt that Christ was intending to give us there a precise description of either heaven or hell.

Let me say that another way: Each parable is meant to teach a single point, and we are in danger of getting way off-track if we take all the specific details of a parable too far in our interpretation or application. The central message of the story of the rich man and Lazarus is not hell’s “compartments” – of that fact we can be unmistakably certain.

On the other hand, each point of an epistle is important. Often, unlike a parable, the key to understanding one teaching in an epistle is found in the previous point.

We need to know, then, the various rules of interpretation for each area of literary genre. Otherwise you might not know the difference between kombucha and sriracha. And that could cause some real trouble at your late-summer garden party, even as we continue to delight in these days when the sun shines bright on our old Kentucky home.

Pastor Charles

When it comes to good cooking, the University of Maryland ranked lemon, soy sauce, and Dijon mustard as their top-three “most underrated ingredients.” But I found this comment on the website called Serious Eats: “The most underrated ingredients I would say are water and flat-leaf parsley.” Other serious cooks weighed in their affirmations. Prior to my reading all of this commentary from thoughtful folks for whom the culinary arts are no laughing matter, my thought would have been: “Parsley – who in the world needs it?”

That may be how you feel about – dare I utter it – grammar. “Grammar” isn’t likely your favorite word, unless you were (are) a bit nerdy like I was in middle school. (If you think I’m still nerdy, please keep that thought to yourself.) But I just can’t do a hermeneutics blog series without at least mentioning the importance of grammar. We must pay attention to the grammatical construction of any passage that we’re studying.

In order to investigate the grammar with some degree of competence, we must look at the sentence, prepositions, pronouns, verbs, nouns, and phrases. Are there any dependent clauses? Are there any subordinate phrases? Take note. We must carefully consider how the words relate to each other in the sentences, and in the paragraphs, in order to study carefully. The careful interpreter will observe even all the little things!

In Matthew 28:19-20, for example, we find what we often call the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them … teaching them to observe all that I commanded you …” (NASB). As we first read the text, “Go” sounds like a verb. “Make disciples” sounds like a verb. “Baptizing” sounds like a verb. “Teaching” sounds like a verb. But as we study the sentence, we find that there’s only one verb: matheteusate (“make disciples”). “Go” is a participle. “Baptizing” is a participle. “Teaching” is a participle.

So what’s a participle? (Just in case you need to review.) A participle is a word formed from a verb and used as an adjective or a noun. Burned biscuit, for example. Or, “Don’t burn the biscuits if you want to be applauded for good cooking.”

Why does this matter? Because – back to the Great Commission – it means that “go,” “baptizing,” and “teaching” all modify the main verb: MAKE DISCIPLES. What Jesus commissions us to do here is, “Make disciples and teach.” When we understand that, the weight of the meaning comes out of the text.

It’s never a good idea to approach the Bible like the guy who said, “I’ve already got a sermon. I just have to find a verse for it.” That’s having a preconceived idea and then attempting to find some Scripture to support it. If I try to make a sermon, I wind up forcing the Bible to fit my sermon. But if I try to comprehend a passage, then out of my understanding of that passage will flow God’s message. And that’s the only message we’re really after!

Speaking of the kitchen, the only things we want twisted are our giant salted pretzels. We never want to twist the Bible to make it say what we want it to say. That would leave a bad taste in everybody’s mouth.

Pastor Charles

Greetings from Martha’s Vineyard! Please indulge a temporary break in the hermeneutics blog series.

We’ve delighted in beautiful New England weather and loads of fun with Joshua’s cousins, as well as the special blessing of celebrating Eileen’s parents’ 60th wedding anniversary. Enjoy some of these photos from my phone. I’ll include one of us from their dinner, and a copy from their 1955 wedding album.

Particularly this week, like you I’m grateful for our nation and for the distinct privileges of American citizenship. I’m deeply saddened by last week’s decision of the U.S. Supreme Court which undermines marriage and family, and which puts evangelical Christianity on a possible collision course with an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution that is foolish on multiple levels. As our cultural values have abandoned God’s laws with mounting velocity, now the highest court in our land appears to have forsaken law in general.

Thankfully, the highest court in our land is not the highest court. Five human justices may have thrown out the rule of law, but the Lord of the universe still reigns. God will not be overruled, and his truth will not be overturned.

When I was in high school I was an exchange student near Barcelona, Spain. I remember learning that there were two types of marriage in most of Europe: that of the church and that of the state. As foreign a concept as that was for me at the time, I realize now that we’ve landed in the same place. It’s time for the church to commit — perhaps like never before — to let God’s Word define what we believe and what we practice in regard to marriage and family. We will be more and more distinct from pervasive ideologies, but to God be the glory!

Though I’m increasingly concerned for the next generation, and particularly alarmed by impending affronts to religious liberty, I know who alone orders history and who alone can shine Light into the darkness of an increasingly secularized American civilization. Christ is enough. 

Jesus predicted persecution, but He also promised sustaining grace (Luke 21:18): “Not a hair of your head will perish.” You and I must hide behind the cross. There’s no better place to be. Like every day, now is the moment to STOP worrying and start trusting.

This last photo that I’ll share with you captures a split-second scene here on the island that hit me like a ton of bricks. The symbolism is cogent. With a church in the background and a family nearly hidden behind the “STOP” message, you can see the bumper sticker affixed to the sign: “The real revolution will be love.”

Though I’m quite sure that the motivation behind the placard was not the public proclamation of Biblical doctrine, no truer words were ever spoken. Love will triumph in the end, for our Christ has already triumphed for us!

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” So I’ll tell you what I tell myself: STOP.

Pastor Charles

Paula Deen is an expert on fried chicken. As a bona fide, down-home, down-South chef, she can also teach you how to peel a shrimp – and how to make sweet potato balls without getting marshmallow all over your hands. Some of Deen’s best recipes are the timeless ones we all love.

Thomas (not Timothy!) Keller of Napa Valley won Best California Chef in 1996 and Best Chef in America in 1997. Keller served as a consultant for the Pixar  animated film Ratatouille, and in the process designed a fancy layered version of – you guessed it – ratatouille (“confit byaldi”) for the characters to cook. Again, timeless proved best.

When asked about the ten most timeless recipes ever, freelance recipe tester Kemp Minifie included an Asian pulled pork burger and a double-chocolate layer cake on her list. Ruling out even the French coq au vin,“timeless is not the same as classic,” concluded Minifie.

My friends, the Bible is timeless. But one of the things that can get in the way of our right interpretation of a passage is that we are not.

As much as possible we must rid ourselves of our 21^st century cultural (and other) trappings and – to the best of our ability – attempt to interpret a passage in the light of the original situation in which it was written. The cultural and historical gap is a major difficulty in sound interpretation. So as interpreters our task becomes to uncover and understand the cultural intention of the author before we try to translate the passage into a more contemporary context.

Carefully look for cultural elements in the text. Are there references to specific people or events or customs or social practices? If there are, dive in and do your homework. Are there important geographical references (cities, towns, rivers, mountains, and the like)? If we put our nose to the grindstone, perhaps we can make much of a political or social context that will shed important light on the meaning of a Bible passage.

When we understand the history behind a passage, we are well on our way toward building a foundation upon which to understand a text of Scripture.

As we feed on God’s Word, we need to ask ourselves – regularly – these types of questions:

• Why is this worded in this specific way?
• What historical factors lie behind the form of this text?
• Is this wording customary or atypical?
• In the original cultural setting, was this ordinary or unusual?
• Why was this written?
• Why was this written like this?
• Who were the original recipients (or hearers) of this?
• What did this mean to the people to whom it was written (or spoken)?
• What did the writer intend to say in this particular context?

Just for fun, chew on these specific examples: Why were the Galatians easy victims for the Judaizers? Why did the church at Corinth tolerate sexual impurity? What kind of church received the Epistle to the Hebrews?

We’re cooking up a storm now, friends! I’m so glad that you’re in the kitchen with me.

Pastor Charles

In keeping with the cooking theme of this blog series on basic hermeneutics, I consulted a professional chef about how to write a professional recipe. Here is part of the answer: “Spell out everything (tablespoons, ounces, etc.) … If the recipe has different elements (pie crust, pie filling, etc.), break up the ingredient list with headings.”

So today I’ll take up the idea of progressive revelation. If you’ll allow me, I’d like to spell out what I mean by that term, because – I must warn you – you have to be careful with the words “progressive revelation.” When I lived in Chicagoland I was a stone’s throw from the Baha’i House of Worship (often referred to as the “Baha’i Temple”) in Evanston. Believe me when I tell you that the teachings of the Baha’is include a very different understanding of “progressive revelation” – so please allow me the opportunity to explain what I mean by that term.

Perhaps most simply stated: A basic understanding of the Bible includes an awareness of the fact that God chose not to tell us everything in Scripture that He intended to tell us, all at once. The revelation of Scripture became fuller in content and meaning as it progressed.

Following the chef’s advice, let me break that down into three bite-size chunks.

TRUTH ILLUMINES TRUTH

What we do not mean by “progressive revelation” is that – as revelation progressed – former truths became untruthful. Progressive revelation simply means that former truth was made clearer by the addition of more details (or more information). The most obvious example of this progression of revelation is the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Progressive revelation means that each doctrinal tenet has been made clearer as God has recorded more and more of His truth. With the passage of time, the purpose of God has become clearer and fuller. For example, we know something about ethics from reading Leviticus, but we know even more about ethics after reading what Christ teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount. The same could be said about worship, or redemption, or even eschatology.

NEW INFORMS OLD

Practically, then, the Old Testament is to be understood in the light of the New Testament. This does not mean that the Old Testament does not make sense alone, but simply that the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. For example, The New Testament does away with the Old Testament sacrificial, ceremonial, and dietary system by showing us that the fulfillment of all of those legal requirements is found in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. In spite of the Old Testament commands, we are free from those specific laws because of New Testament revelation. Keith and Kristyn Getty are absolutely correct: “In Christ alone my hope is found; He is my Light, my strength, my song!”

If there is any tension between the Old and New Testaments, then, the older gives way to the newer.

                “The New is in the Old concealed;

                the Old is in the New revealed!”

What marvelous truth!

On the other hand, if the New Testament does not add to, address, or expand upon the teachings of the Old Testament, then the Old Testament stands on its own. For example, we don’t discover any reason in the New Testament to re-interpret the attribute of God’s holiness that we find in the Psalms.

DIDACTIC OVER NARRATIVE

Another principle related to progressive revelation is that the Gospels and Acts are to be interpreted, for the most part, by the Epistles. (Clearly instructive/didactic passages prevail over passages that simply describe events.) The emphasis of the Gospels and Acts is generally in the accurate recording of important developments, while the Epistles are generally more concerned with interpretation of the significance of these events in terms of doctrine, exhortation, and application. If we are confused, then, about something in the Gospels or in Acts, we ought to check out what the Epistles have to say on the same subject. The Epistles help us to interpret the narrative parts of Scripture.

This rule is not absolute. In much of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, not only is there a record of the “acts” of Jesus and the apostles, but their teaching is recorded as well. Does that mean that Jesus’ teaching and the apostles’ teaching in the Gospels and Acts is given less authority than that of the Epistles (the letters of the apostles)? No. That is not the intent of this principle. Whenever the teaching of Jesus or the apostles is recorded, it is authoritative of course.

But the rule is important to caution us against drawing too many conclusions from accounts of what people did as recorded in narrative passages. Suppose someone were to say to you: “Jesus remained unmarried; this shows that celibacy is good and marriage is bad.” Your best response to that might be something like this: “Jesus’ celibacy does not demand that we view marriage as bad. The Epistles make it clear that marriage is a holy and God-ordained institution, and a beautiful picture of the loving relationship between Christ and His church.”

I’m sure that you can think of other examples of how failing to take into account God’s progressive revelation in Scripture might allow for doctrinal and theological error. There is always a place for reason, logic, sensibility, and humility as we study God’s Word – but Holy Scripture (above and beyond even our highest reasoning) must flavor every ingredient.

Pastor Charles

Today I’ll take a break from my “Serve It Up” blog series.

A paraprosdokian (from the Greek “beyond” + “expectation”) is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a statement is unexpected. It’s a rhetorical term used to describe an unexpected shift in meaning. For example: “Nostalgia just isn’t what it used to be.” Sometimes these thought-shifts are intrinsically humorous, and you can see why comedians make much use of paraprosdokians (whether they’re familiar with the term or not) in their performances. Satire can be powerful. There is the surprise effect, and often an added double meaning for good measure.

But I’m not laughing today as I think about our brothers and sisters who are suffering in the aftermath of Wednesday’s horrific shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Quite tragically, the mass shooting resulted in nine deaths. I agree wholeheartedly with Charleston Mayor Joe Riley when he describes the midweek murders as “unfathomable and unspeakable.”

Each life mattered. Cynthia Hurd had worked for 31 years for the Charleston County Public Library. The library system closed all 16 of its branches Thursday and rightly honored Cynthia with these words: “Cynthia was a tireless servant of the community who spent her life helping residents, making sure they had every opportunity for an education and personal growth. Her loss is incomprehensible.”

Each of the other eight lives also represents profound sadness and grief for many families and many friends, and even for an entire community now trying to cope with such unexpected, instantaneous loss.

Friends, our world is broken. Only what the Bible says about sin, and its consequences, can explain weeks like this. A gunman walks into a church sanctuary and opens fire. 100 rounds of ammunition and a pipe bomb. Nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. A calculated attack, and the worst attack on an assembled congregation in American history. Lord, dear Lord, have mercy.

At meetings earlier this week I saw again the famous 1993 photograph by Kevin Carter that won the Pulitzer Prize. The Sudanese girl and the vulture. That shot always haunts me. It reminds me of the wisdom expressed by Rebbetzin Heller of Neve Yerushalayim College in Jerusalem: “We avoid pictures from the Holocaust because we don’t want to cry. But only tears open all the gates of heaven.”

Our Lord wept with those who suffered (John 11:35). God’s Word implores us to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).

Our nation is splintered by political division, weakened by moral disintegration, and endangered by spiritual meltdown. We face threats from within and without. The gospel of Jesus Christ is our only hope. Please extend a hand of gospel friendship to someone who needs it. Please love as Jesus loved.

If I might share my own paraprosdokian before I close: Maybe we have to be torn apart to be glued together.

Pastor Charles

We’re still in the kitchen, friends. I hope you can stand the heat.

If you haven’t been following the blog, we’re trying to cook up a fantastic smorgasbord of the best approaches to sound exegesis. We want to do the finest job we can of determining what a text of Scripture really means, so that we can teach it right – and live it right.

I want to pause today just to remind you of something very important in the pursuit of solid hermeneutics: Important Bible truths are not hidden, so look for the simplest interpretation.

I know this seems very close to the umbrella principle of literal interpretation that we covered earlier – and it is – but it’s worth spending one day on the priority of simplicity. You and I must always keep in mind that the major doctrinal (and theological) truths of our faith are plainly seen in Scripture, and often repeated throughout the Bible. Theologians sometimes refer to this principle as the perspicuity, or clarity, of Scripture. Leave it to a theologian to choose a complicated word for “clarity!”

Sometimes we’re intrigued by the Bible’s more obscure passages, and indeed those can make for delightfully exhilarating dinner conversation. But, when it comes to the most central truths of Scripture, you can rest assured that these important truths are not hidden in unclear passages. Nor are they hidden in difficult figures of speech.

When it comes to essential Christian doctrine, we never want to major on the minors. Why not? It always gets back to the character and nature of our God. Our Lord should never be charged with trying to hide His truth from all but the wisest and brightest and most educated. God’s purpose in giving us His Word is to reveal truth, not to conceal truth.

The implicit, therefore, should be interpreted by the explicit. That which is assumed to be implied in Scripture is to be interpreted in the light of that which is fully developed and formulated. In other words, interpret the obscure in light of the clear! R.C. Sproul expresses it like this: “The basic rule is the rule of care. Careful reading of what the text is actually saying will save us from much confusion and distortion. No great knowledge of logic is necessary, just the simple application of common sense.”

So if our interpretation of a text does not construe its meaning in the simplest, least complicated, most natural and straightforward manner, then – all things being equal – our  interpretation is probably invalid.

Just for your consideration … I’ve heard (and read) multiple times that angels are sexless. Where does the Bible actually say that? Jesus explained that in heaven (“in the resurrection,” technically) there will be no marrying or giving in marriage – that we will be “like angels in heaven.” That implies that angels do not marry, but it does not necessarily imply that angels are genderless.

Is it possible that God could call angels to remain unmarried for other reasons? Of course. So it would be imprudent to build a teaching on a possible implication, especially if that teaching is unconfirmed by the rest of Scripture. Watch out for doctrinal leaps that cannot be proven from the text! “No marriage” does not necessarily mean “no gender.” I could argue that the many references to angels as males flatly contradicts the idea of genderless angels.

Let’s let the Bible speak for itself. Sometimes it’s just that simple.

There are scrumptious riches to be acquired for the diligent student who will humbly and carefully open the Bible as before the Lord, and who will meditate on – and delight in – the major teachings of the Scriptures.

Please stick with me on this journey. Keep a positive attitude, and be willing to study diligently in order to “present yourself to God as one approved” (Second Timothy 2:15). If we always keep the sunny side up, we won’t find ourselves scrambled.

Pastor Charles