Light, Knowledge, and Celebrity

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hidden."

This is the first mention in the Gospels of light as a metaphor for knowledge and grace. Knowledge of heaven and God is always portray as light while ignorance if portrayed as darkness. The word translated as "world" here is the Greek kosmos, which is a much bigger word than "world." It means the universe, the order of the universe, the collection of everything in the universe, and human affairs. This phrase might be translated as "cosmic light" rather than "light of the world" to give it the transendental quality of the word kosmos. This is the light by which the universe reveals itself to us. Knowledge as we perceive the pattern of order and science.

Of course, city (polis) also had a different meaning during the time of Christ. There were no nations. The world was ruled by a city, Rome. A city stood for a specific form of society. Each city was seen as a unique society, playing a unique role in the world.

And, not to make a mountain out of a molehill, but the word translated as "hill" here is oros, which is almost always translated as "mountain." Mountain tops were the first place the Jews began offering sacrifice to their God. A city on a mountain is like our thinking about Sangri-La, a holy place set aside from society. High places were places of refuge and defense, not commercial centers.

Of course, here the the meaning is also a place or a people that others look up to. This is consistent with the idea that people who follow God will earn a certain notoriety or celebrity. This idea is continued in the next three verses.

Mat 5:13 You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Alternative: You are the salt of the earth; but if salt is insipid, how shall it be seasons? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under people's feet.

For a long time, this passage confused me because I wondered how salt could lose its taste. Some Biblical scholars like to talk about saltlike fertilizers and how these might lose there effectiveness. I think this is a stretch. However, the translation confuses the message here. The Greek moraino is translated here as "lost is its taste" but its normal meaning is "to act foolishly." Another common meaning of salt is "wit," so Christ is saying fairly clearly that people are naturally witty, having common sense, but that we can become foolish. Only in this passage is moraino ever translated as "to make tasteless," (which I guess could make sense in the sense that foolish people make tasteless jokes.)

To understand the deeper meaning here, we have to understand the importance of salt in Christ time. It wasn't only a seasoning, but it was also used as pay and, more importantly, as a preservative. Remember, there was no refrigeration in this period and no other preservatives other than spices, of which salt was the only plentify one. This is what made if valuable enough to be used as pay. Real salt did not lose its saltiness. It was stable enough to be used as a currency. Our word "salary" comes from the Latin for salt.

So, when Christ says the his people are the "salt of the earth," he is saying that they are the valuable, those he describes in the Beatitudes preserve what is valuable. As salt preserves food, people preserve valuable ideas. In one sense, he is referring to the Jewish people then (and Christians today) as the preservers of the Bible.

Salt may not lose its saltiness, but good, valuable people can become foolish. Also in ancient Greek, there was a phrase (ean to halas môranthêi ) which means to become insipid and combines the terms for salt (halas) and foolish (môranthêi) into "fool's salt" the same way we would call false gold "fool's gold." So Christ is saying here, that good people can make themselves into fools. People can be foolish when they fail to preserve what is valuable.

Another way something salty can become "foolish" is for a preserved product to go bad. In calling good people "the salt of the eath," Christ is also saying that we have been preserved or saved. However, we can still go bad by become foolish and insipid. When a salted product goes bad, it no longer tastes salty, it tastes, well, bad. A little taint goes a long way.

What happens to tainted products? Or what happens when we discover that what we thought was salt proves to be "fool's salt." Well, these bad products can't be fixed by adding more salt. They are caste out. "Trodden under foot" in Greek is metaphor for being spurned or rejected.

"Salt" is from halas (halas) ( see hals for more detail), which means "salt," "salt-rock," "brine," and is a metaphor for "sales" and "wit."

"Lost his savour" is from môrainô (moraino), which means "to play a fool," "to act foolishly," "to be silling," and "to be insipid."

"Good" is from ischuô (ischuo), which means "to be strong in body," "to be powerful," "to prevail," and "to be worth."

"Trodden" is from katapateô (katapateo), which means "trample," and "trample down." It is also a metaphor for treating someone rudely or spurning them, treating them with neglect.

The "Reward" of Heaven

"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for this is how they persecuted the prophets who came before you."

The word that is translated here as "reward" is misthos, which primarily means wages paid for work. It is the same word used in translating "wages of sin." And again, remember that the term used for "heaven" doesn't mean just the afterlife. It means the heaven, that is, the entire universe, the domain of God. So the phrase describes not a reward or prize but our just compensation from God both in this life and the next, in this world and heaven.

Christ is saying that living correctly is work. It is hard work that we get paid for in the big scheme of things. By mentioning the prophets, Christ is putting this work into historical perspective. The prophets may have been hounded and driven away, but they are now remembered and honored, not only by God, but in this world as well.

In other words, this world does recognize virtue, eventually. Over the long-term, virtue wins. This is true whether we think of the long-term as the course of a life or from life to afterlife.

The Hidden Secrets in the Beatitudes

Last night, I spent a lot of time thinking about the Beatitudes and realized that taken together they formed a very powerful pattern. This pattern is hidden unless we consider the original Greek meaning of the words.

First, there is a progression of the type of people who are being blessed. First, there at those who are "poor of spirit" or as we discussed, more literally, "lacking in spirit." Then Christ goes onto those mourning for a loss, those who are meek (humble), those who hunger for an ideal state, those who show mercy, those who are pure of spirit, those who make peace, those who are pursued (followed) for their ideal state, and finally, those who are persecuted for following Christ. Do you notice the evolution here? We start with the weakest and move toward the most spiritually strong.

The beatitudes describe progress towards realization and power. First we are weak in spirit, which means arrogant and self-centered. Then, life teaches us about loss and sadness. This makes us meek and humble. We begin to yearn for an ideal state. We start showing others mercy. We seek to atone for our errors and purify ourselves. After growing spiritually, we try to make peace among others. We are then followed, pursued, or hounded for wanting to be in an ideal state. Finally, we are persecuted for following Christ. To me, Christ was clearly describing a spiritual evolution.

Strangely, enough, this evolution seems to continue in the way Christ describes what will happen to people in these various stated. Remember, the Beatitudes, are constructed as a loop, started and ending with promising the kingdom of heaven to those both the starting and ending states. I think that this means we have to go back to the first Beatitude to continue the progression. What happens after we are persecuted for following Christ? We are promised that we can come under the rule of God and join the kingdom of heaven.

Again, there is a progression. First, we join the kingdom of heaven on earth. Then we are summoned (or are comforted) which can mean that we are called to God. Then we inherit the earth, which can mean that we are buried or that we are successful in life. What happens then? We are satisfied or fulfilled. We are shown mercy. We see God. We become children of God. Then, we again join the kingdom of heaven this time in the afterlife. After that, we know true joy. Which, of course, it the topic of the next line in Christ's teaching.

Suffering for Christ

"Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake."

While this lines sounds a lot like the last line of the Beatitudes, there are important differences. First, while in the previous stanza, dioko includes a lot of possible meanings not all of them negative, here "persecute" is clearly the best meaning because dioko is used with other unambiguously negative attacks.

My tendency is to think that the meaning is narrower here than in the last stanza because this is the type of parallel and contrast that distinguishes Christ's words from everything else that has been written. The fact that we can be pursued for seeking perfection here is compared with the ideas

The is another parallel here where the pursuit of excellence (righteousness) is paired with the idea of following Christ. While people can compete with you in a non-negative way when you are simply trying to be the best you can be, you will encounter more negatively when you seek excellence through pursuing Christ. Following Christ (as opposed to simply embracing a mainstream "Christian" religion) has never been and will never something that is applauded publicly. Later one, Christ explains many reasons why this must be true.

Being Hounded for Seeking Perfection

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Earlier we discussed the meaning of the Greek term dikaiosune, which means "being in an ideal state." Here, Christ tells us that we have to pay a price if we want to be the best that we can be. In the translation, it seems that he is saying that we will be harassed by others for trying to be "good." While this is certainly part of the meaning, there is much more here.

The Greek term that is translated as "persecuted" is dioko, which is a form of the verb, dio, which means to flee. Dioko is really closer in meaning to being chased, or hounded by others, rather than simply persecuted. It can mean to mistreat someone, but it can also mean simply to run after someone with no hostility. It could mean something as positive as being "followed."

While I don't disagree with the basic translation, Christ is saying something more here about people who try to perfect themselves. He is saying people are fortunate when people follow them in their quest for perfection. Some will merely observe what they are doing. Others will criticize it. And some others will emulate it. So seeking after perfection affects other people in a wide variety of ways. They are free to choose how they react. We shouldn't be surprised at any of these reactions.

Who are the Children of God?

Mat 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."

Christ referred to himself as the "son of God." Here he connects that idea to those who make peace. In the original Greek, both "peacemaker" and "son of God" are very close to the English. The only difference is that both terms are masculine in the original. The term used was "sons" of God, rather than "children" so the connection to the title Christ used for himself is much clearer in Greek.

What is lost in translation is the sense that both of these concepts are terms of power. In the Greek, peacemakers were not pacifists. They were people of power, people of influence who could enforce the peace. Plutarch said that young men wanted war and contests (because they had no power or respect and wished to win it) while old men became peacemakers. Old men in ancient tradition were associated with power, wealth, and wisdom.

In Greek, things can either become (gignomai) peaceful or be made (poieô) peaceful. When something happens in a natural way (that is, by God's design), Christ uses the former term. When something is done intentionally, usually by men, the later is used.

So there is a bit of a pun here for those that know classical Greek literature. The young of God are the old of human society.

The deeper message here is that as humanity grows in wisdom, we will tend toward peace. We will find ways to create and enforce peace. Christ likened this to his role in bringing the "kingdom of heaven" and the "rule of God." He was a man of power coming to push humanity toward peace, push humanity toward wisdom and maturity. The coming of God is the coming of maturity, the understanding of the way the universe works.

"Peacemaker" is from eirênopoios (eirenopoios), which means literally, one who produces peace. It only appears in the NT, but if comes from eirênê (eirene), which means both the freedom from fear and a treaty of peace between countries and poieô (poieo), which means "to make," "to produce," "to create," "to bring into existence," "to bring about," "to cause," "to render," "to consider," "to prepare," "to make ready," and "to do."

Christ's Reward for Purity

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

Katharos, the Greek word translated as pure, means free from that which corrupts or soils. It is associated with the idea that adulterated things can be purified by fire. Physically, heat kills germs and disease. Back in Christ's time, fire was one of the few ways to clean a wound. Boiling impure water makes it drinkable. Philosophically, this lead to the idea that fire burns away what is corrupt. This might have been led to the idea of Purgatory, where we suffer temporary fire of punishment to burn away our sins so that we can be pure enough to see God.

The heart in Christ's time like our own was a metaphor for the personal center of all physical and spiritual life. Being "pure of heart" means having an unsullied soul, a spirit free from guilt or desire. The pure of heart includes two groups. It is the innocent, who like children, have never known sin and corruption. But it is also the purified, those who have suffered been through the fire that has burned away our sins.

Those who are pure can see God. What does this mean? What does it mean to see a spiritual being that has no physical form? The Greek word for "see" is optanomai, which not only means seeing with the eyes, but perceiving with the mind and to experience. So, people who have pure hearts can peceive God and experience God.

Interestingly, in the form that is used of optanomai also means both to see and be seen. So another way to translated this phrase would be to say that the pure of hear will be seen by God. Of course, by definition, God sees everyone of us, but something beyond that is being described here. Our purity, our freedom from defect, puts us in the presence of God and joins us with God so that we can perceive and be perceived. Purity is a way that we share in the divine.

Again, we should point out that from the timeless perspective of Christ's, by becoming pure, we can experience God, but by experiencing God, we can also become pure. The perception of God becomes like a trial by fire that can burn away the corruption within us. The idea may talk to what happens after our death, passing through Purgatory, but it also refers to what can happen in our lives, as we pass through suffering and loss.

Mercy and Forgiveness

"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. "

This line repeats the formula from the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." Those who show merciful will receive mercy. Again, this is both a description of what happens when we are judged by God and a description of how we treat one another as we become enlightened. Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting wrongs. It means to limit the punishment that we deserve for our wrongs.

I often think of these ideas on a personal level. We have to remember our own shortcomings to forgive other's their shortcomings. We can only learn to forgive ourselves for our mistakes after we learn to forgive others for their mistakes. Like most of the Beatitudes and most of Christ's teaching, the lines between cause and effect are blended togehter, like Christ words blend the divine and human. Must we forgive before we are forgiven? Or do we forgive because we have been forgiven? From timeless perspective, both ideas are the same thing, two sides of the same coin.

Much of what we see as the mystery of Christ's words is our inability to see things form this timeless point of view when all of time is part of a whole we cannot perceive. The Last Judgment, the judgment on our deaths, and the punishments and rewards we get in life are all joined together into a whole.


Imagine if our courts and prisons worked by this rule of mercy. To get a reduced sentence, convicts had to demostrate that they can show mercy and caring to others. This is a higher and more productive standard for mercy that the "victimization" rule that we use today. Today, convicts try to demonstrate how they have been victimized by others in order to get mercy. This plays to the worst in criminals, their ability to see themselves as victims no matter what they do to others. Justice requires that we do not immunize people against the consequences of their bad behavior. That same idea of justice requires that we do not forget the good that people have done when we are punishing them. This plays to the best in all of us, recognizing what we do that is good and productive is what weight against what we have done that is bad and destructive. This takes us out of the criminal mindset of seeing ourselves as victims and instead forces us to think about how we treat others.

Christ's Promise of Satisfaction

"Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled."

The fourth beatitude talks about "righteousness," which is a difficult concept in modern society. Today everyone is quick to criticize those who are "self-righteous" because they are defined as being quick to judge others. This is not what Christ meant.

In Greek, the term used for righteousness is dikaiosune, which means "being in an ideal state." We can think of this as the state that God wants us to be in or what we were designed for by nature. Of course, in historical terms this means being virtuous, honest, pure, and thinking and acting correctly. Our modern idea of justice, that is, giving every person their due, is a somewhat lower standard of righteousness, especially when it is applied to trying to achieve some condition of social justice where everyone's due is considered the same regardless of what their behavior merits.

This idea of righteousness is both more individualistic and more morally absolute. We all have different talents and abilities that we are expected to use and develop. However, there is a standard of character, a standard of behavior, that we are also expected to aspire to irrespective of our particular abilities. We may never be able to reach that standard, but we need to try.

In this phrase, Christ is saying that people naturally yearn for this state of righteousness. We desire to be right with ourselves and right with the world. We have a hole in our lives that we are seeking to fill and satisfy, shortcomings that we are seeking to overcome. Chortazo, the Greek word translated in this version as "filled" is also means "to satisfy" with a close association with the physical satisfaction of eating. This takes us back to Christ's metaphor for eating, especially bread, and receiving God into our lives. Here he promises that the state of righteousness is possible for all of us.

Christ and His Prediction about the Meek

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."

This statement was both a promise and a miraculous prediction of the future that we have seen come true during our own lifetime.

The meek (praos in Greek) are those who are humble, gentle, with mild dispositions. They are the opposite of the warlike. For all of human history leading until Christ's time, the warlike had dominated the earth. The Roman Empire was both the most successful and most warlike of all cultures until that time. When Christ made this prediction, it must have seemed foolish. Even Christ's own followers in the early church must have certainly thought that Christ was referring to a time after the Last Judgment, because they didn't see a world in which the meek triumphed.

However, over the longer term, what has happened? The Roman Empire dissolved after it had come to be dominated by Christ's church. While wars still occurred in the Christian world, each era became more gentle by historical standards. While the tools of war grow most terrible in the every passing era, the most warlike of people have not come to dominate. In our own era, the Germans and Japanese made a religion of war and they lost. They were defeated by those who make a religion out of voluntary exchange, that is commerce.

While today's pacifists complain about America's violence, the fact is that the world today is much less violent today because America's success in war. America does not control the countries it conquers. Instead, it gives them freedom. America's wealth does not come from conquest by from people who work peacefully together in commerce, through a world-wide system of voluntary exchange. As Ben Johnson said, "Men are never so harmlessly occupied as when they engage in commerce." China has realized that to be competitive as a nation, they don't need a competitive military but a competitive economy. This is a miraculous change and one that only Christ could have foreseen.

This prediction always us to foresee the future. Who are the warlike and violent today? The Islamic militant preaches violence. Does anyone think that they will dominate the earth? They are destined to fail because Christ changed the rules 2,000 years ago.

Christ's View of Sadness and Comfort

"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted."

People ask why God allows sorrow in the world. Here Christ gives us at least part of the secret. Again, the lesson is not as simple as it looks at first. At first glance, the message seems to be that sorrow is temporary, and that, one day, God will take away our tears.

The word that we translate as "comfort" is parakaleo. This verb primarily means will be called (kaleo) towards the caller (para), that is, "will be summoned. So, when we suffer, we will be summoned God. More general, parakaleo means that we are being told something. The message can be comforting to us, but it can also be teaching us , begging us, or encouraging us.

Again, Christ meant all these ideas at once. When we mourn, it is because we have lost someone that we love. In that loss, we should see our own future. It is a foreshadowing of our own future summoning when we will be called to join God. This call is at once comforting because death is not final, a lesson about our future, a entreaty to change, and encouragement to persevere.

Who are Christ's "Poor in Spirit"?

The first long sermon Christ gives in the Gospels is called "The Beatitudes." The Beatitudes start with Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

The word "blessed" in Greek is makarios which is from the base makar, meaning "happy" or "fortunate" but with the sense of favored by God. It can also mean "wealthy" with andros makaros (fortunate men) meaning specifically "the wealthy" (men with a fortune). This sets up an interesting contrast or pun in this first line that only works in Greek, saying "wealthy are the poor." This is very consistent with a lot of Christ's message in the Beatitudes.

However, the line doesn't quite say "the poor," which would be easier to understand. It says "the poor of spirit," which comes from the Greek, ptochos pneuma. Ptochos means "poor" but when combined with another word like pneuma the term can also means "lacking." Pneuma in Greek means literally "breeze" or "breath" and in other Greek literature doesn't normally mean "spirit." (Another Greek term used more commonly for spirit, thumos, also means breath, and life force, but it has a sense of maleness and aggressiveness.) In the Bible, pneuma is equated with the Hebrew ruah (ruwach) which also means "breeze" or "breath" and is used (for example, in Isaiah 61:1) to mean the breath of God, the movement of the invisible divine spirit. Ruah is the term used to indicate difference between physical and spiritual. The Old Testament says God is ruah, that is, spirit, not a physical being. In the New Testament, pneuma is used in place of ruah. It is the specific term used for the Holy Spirit, but it is also used to mean the human spirit. It is also the term used in the Gospels to described the evil spirits that Christ casts out.

This phrase ptochos pneuma could mean anything from those lacking the spirit of God to those lacking evil spirits or even those short of breath. In other words, this is a very difficult line. How do we decide what it means? As the first line of his first sermon, I am not comfortable with my inability to pinpoint Christ's exact meaning. However, I think this uncertainty is exactly what makes Christ's teaching so interesting compared to the teaching in most holy books.

If ptochos pneuma indicates those people who feel that they are lacking God's spirit, in other words, those who lack certainty about God, (which is the feeling I have about this phrase itself) this idea relates to the second test of Christ where we are told that we cannot test for proof of God. If ptochos pneuma indicates those who feel that they lack their own animating spirit, it could mean those who rely on the spirit of God rather than their own egos. If ptochos pneuma means those who are not controlled by evil spirits, it means people whose mind is not troubled. More simply, if ptochos pneuma means those who lack breath in the physical sense, the statement describes those whose time is short here on this earth.

Personally, I think that Christ means all of these things, including other ideas that are not as obvious. All of these people are moving toward that great mystery of the kingdom of heaven, the rule of the universal, the realm of God. The fact that the phrase itself has a lot of different dimensions is what separates Christs words from everything else ever taught.

Mat 4:19 "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

In English, this phrase initially appears as something of a pun, "fishers of men" rather than "fishermen," but in the original Greek it has none of these connotations. The Greek term for fisher used (halieus ) doesn't mention fish. It is a more general term for one who works at sea.

Instead, our seach for meaning takes us in a different direction than comparing people to fish. One of Christ's analogies for the kingdom heaven is a net put down into the sea taking in both good fish and bad. In ancient Greek, one of the near synonyms for halieus is sageneuter, which specifically means one who uses a net in the sea. After Christ's resurrection, one of his appearances was occasioned by a miracle of filling the apostle's nets. This signalled the coming of the time when the apostles would begin actively converting people.

At this point in the Gospels, Christ's statement tells us a more about how Christ sees the coming of the kingdom of heaven as a process. Here, we are told for the first time that this process isn't one of simple divine action or fiat. It is the action of people working with other people. (The Greek term translated as "men" here is a generic on for people of either sex.) It is a form of work not just a miracle of transformation. Here Christ is calling the apostles and us to this mission.

The Kingdom of Heaven: The Riddle of the Gospels

In Matthew, after his testing, Christ took up the words of John the Baptist, preaching, "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is near."

When I first read that New Testament as an adult, it seemed that the focus of Christ's entire message was "the kingdom of heaven or God" is at hand. He was announcing a change in the nature of reality, and, looking back at how Christianity did change the nature of reality over the last 2,000 years (including the perceptions of other religions), this statement seemed very prophetic. However, there is a riddle in what Christ means by the "kingdom of heaven" that we have to study all of Christ's words throughout the Gospels to discover.

First, let us clear away the differences between our English translation and the original Greek. We have to rely on Greek because, unlike many of Christ's words, this phrase doesn't refer to any Old Testament teaching, an important fact in itself.

The Greek word metanoeo is translated as "repent," but its specific meaning is to "perceive afterward" as in to see the truth after a mistake is made. This emphasis on perception is important because of the meaning of the "kingdom of heaven."

In the actual Greek, the phrase used in Matthew (and NOT in the other Gospels) "kingdom of heaven" doesn't necessarily mean the kingdom or rule of God (the phrase used in all the Gospels including Matthew). It means literally, the rule of the universe. The meaning of ouranos (the heavens) can include the heavenly abode of God, but it certainly isn't limited to it.

The term translated as "near" in the version above or "at hand" in King James is eggizo, which is a verb and means "to bring near" or "to join one thing to another."

So the actual meaning is that we must change our perceptions. The laws of the unverse are not what we think. We are coming to those laws or they are coming to us. The laws of men are being joined to the laws of the universe.

There is a lot to think about here. The phrase brings us back to the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Again, we get the idea that the our earthly, parochial view is being joined with a more universal view.

However, what is this "rule of heaven" that Christ talks about? In the Gospels, it is described as many things--a growing tree, yeast in bread, a net that catches all fish, and a harvest that includes both weeds and wheat. At least part of what is meant is the last judgment, separating saints from sinners, but that is only a part of what is meant. But that judgment, whether at the end of the world or the end of our lives is only one aspect of the kingdom or rule that Christ speaks about.

As far as this kingdom drawing near or being joined with the world of men, Christ always refers to this, not as something that happens at a specific time, but something that is always being culminated right now. (The Greek tense use is the "perfect," which doesn't exist in English. It means an action that is being completed now.) Since the general assumption of this blog is that Christ's words apply to us now as much as they applied to his contemporaries, this would mean that the process is still being completed today as it was 2,000 years ago.

Testing God: Christ's Second Trial Revisited

"It is written, you shall not test the Lord thy God."

Sandwiched between choosing the spiritually satisfying over the physically satisfying and a rejection of worldly praise and power, Christ response to his second test sticks in my mind. We can never know of God's existence with certainty. Not only is this the way the universe is set up: it is wrong for us to even try.

For me, the fact that the universe is designed (or we are designed) to keep the answer to this key question ambiguous gives away the game. No matter how much we learn, we must choose to believe in God or not. Currently, science recognizes that there are about twenty variables in physics, whose values could be anything, but which are finely tuned to allow life. Absent a belief in God, the only explanation is an infinite number of universes so that one could have this combination of values that allow us to observe them. This is called the "anthropomophic principle," which is kind of funny because it purpose is to give us the ability to think that we are the highest power in the univers. Science does not allow us to choose between an incomprehensible divine cause and some simple physical explanation for the universe. Instead it allows us to choose between two infinities: a physical one or a spiritual one.

However, the more I think about Christ's second test, the more pivotal it become. This uncertainty is the essence of freedom. The fact that we cannot test God, cannot test our version of faith, and cannot test what we think God wants us to do, gives us freedom. God will not smite us if we step out of line. We can cross the line. We are free.

How do we know where the line its? Christ's answer to all his tests makes it clear. He begins each with "It is written." Certainly, in saying this he was referring to the lesson of the old testament, but he may have also been referring the all the ancient wisdom of humanity. There is a clear convergence of all the ancient religious books on morality. This code is written in the human heart. We may get confused at a given time and place. Even an entire generation can get confused by the lies of the world, but the knowledge the is preserved and survives generation after generation is the truth.

Christ Third Temptation: Earthly Power

Mat 4:10 "Begone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"

In response to being offered all the wealth and power in the world, Christ tells us that our purpose in life is simply serving God's plan for us. In the context here, there is an interesting parrallel between worshipping Satan and worshipping earthly wealth and power, but, when taken out of that context, Christ words don't concern themselves with that issue. His view is simple. Our testing is over when we come to realize that only God is worthy of homage (and fear, from the original phrase in Deuteronomy) and we should only serve God.

Of course, the challenge with obeying Christ's words here is knowing how we best serve God, that is, knowing what God's mission is for us personally. However, when we take this idea with Christ answer to the two other trials, we do know something important about God's mission for us. First, we must seek our personal fulfillment by serving our spiritual needs rather than our physical needs. Second, we cannot expect any certainty or proof in divine matters. This leads us finally to simply honoring God by doing our best to serve Him. As a matter of fact, an important element in this trial is that we cannot be certain.

Why is our uncertainty important? Look at the evil done by those who are certain of what God wants of them. Absolutism is dangerous because our certainty about God's mission for us can be used to justify any evil.

Often when I pray the Lord's Prayer, I see in the words "Hallowed be thy name" are clear warning that we can never do evil in the name of God, indeed, that the greatest sin is doing evil under the guise of following God's will.

It is interesting that this particular challenge is ties with the temptation of earthly power because it seems like those most willing to do evil in God's name are those who are seeking early power and more concerned with politics than with God.

An interesting test for any person who claims to be representing God is seeing how actively they seek earthly wealth and power. By definition, such a person has failed the third test. Similarly a person that seeks physical gratification has failed the first test. A person who seeks proof and certainty in life fails the second test.

Christ's Second Test: Faith Without Proof

Mat 4:7 It is written again, You shall not test the Lord thy God.

This is the third phrase spoken by Christ in the Gospels. He said this in response to Satan asking him to prove that he was the son of God by demonstrating that God would take care of him. In other words, Satan asked him for a miracle.

This second test or temptation of Christ (again, to "tempt" and "test" are the same word in Greek. Here it is ekpeirazo, "to test by," and in Old Testament Hebrew, nacah) flows naturally from the first test. In the first test, we are asked to trust that our spiritual needs are more important than our physical needs. In this second test, we are asked to trust that God is working in the absence of proof. This is, of course, the big question that agnostics always have: why doesn't God (the existing one) prove his existence beyond all doubt? Here, Christ gives the answer: reality is not subject to proof. We are on earth to be tested by God. We are not here to test God. The relationship is, by definition, asymetric.

We live in a universe in which nothing is provable. In science, theories can be disproven, but they cannot be proven. Every current scientific theory is a place holder until a better theory can be found. We can know the truth of some statements, but we cannot know the truth about reality. The most obvious truths about reality down through history (the sun rises, the earth is flat, etc.) have been proven false time and time again.

This impossibility of proof becomes one of the themes of Christ's life. Throughout his teaching, despite his many miracles, Christ said again and again that no "sign" would convince people who do not want to believe. Every miracle in our own lives can be explained away as "merely" natural or "merely" a coincidence. No matter how big a wonder we are confronted with--and the universe itslef is as big as wonders come--we do not have to believe in anything. Belief is always left to our choice. The world is constructed exactly that way because our testing (not God's) is its only purpose.

Christ's First Test: The Physical Foreshadows the Spiritual

Mat 4:4 It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

In Greek, the word we translate as "tempt" is peirazo, which also means "to try if something can be done" or, more simply, "a trial" or "testing." In this context, Satan can be seen as someone who tests us. Temptation is not evil in itself, but it is designed to test our metal. (This view of Satan as a tester for God rather than as the opponent of God is consistent with the first biblical mention of Satan in the story of Job.) This story of testing are interesting in that, though not entirely written in Christ's words, they could have only come from Christ telling his disciples about them. There weren't any other witnesses except for Christ and his tester.

In the context of being tempted by the devil, Jesus speaks his second phrase in Matthew. Christ says, "It is written that man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

First, notice that here, Jesus does not speak from his own authority. When he says, "it is written," he is quoting Deuteronomy. (Moses says these words describing the gift of mana in the desert.) Jesus often makes his points by quoting the ancient wisdom and all of his answer to his trials are answered this way. The point is that his message about facing tests is something we all should know from ancient wisdom, not a new revelation. All major religions teach that our spiritual needs are more important than our physical needs. This reference to scripture also allows us to study the original Hebrew for his meaning rather than just relying on the Greek of the New Testement.

In the second part of this statement ("man does not live by bread alone..."), Jesus identifies the first type of tests that we must face in life, the needs and desires of our a physical body. Our desire for physical gratification is our first and most powerful motivation to do wrong. We can justify all manner of evil by claimed we need to do it for our physical survival. This is a central theme of Jesus's life lesson: by trying to save our temporary physical life we will lose our eternal, spiritual life, but by sacrificing our physical life we will win eternal life.

However, notice that he doesn't make the spiritual superior to the physical. He equates them. Life comes from both the physical and spiritual. This is clear from the word used here for "live." The Greek term, zao, means not only to life and breath, but to enjoy life as well.

Jesus ends this lesson with the most curious part of this quote. "...but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." We could parse this statement inthe Greek of Matthew, but it is more interesting from the Hebrew of Deuteronomy, which is why Christ points us to it. The Hebrew is mowtsa peh Yehova, "that rising from the mouth of the existing one." Three interesting observations about this statement.

First, mowtsa means simultaneously the source of something going forth, the thing that goes forth, and the way of going forth. It doesn't really mean words, as such. It is God, the gift of God, and the path by which God makes contact with us. It is the divine outpouring, which joins the divine with creation. Deep stuff...

Next, is the word, peh, which most commonly means the organ people and animals use for talking and eating but also means an extremity or end. The mouth is one end of the alementary canal. God doesn't have an physical mouth, as such, but He as an organ for communication, an extremity that touches humanity.

Finally, we have Yehova, the unpronounceable name of God, translated most commonly in the Bible as "Lord" but occasionally as "God." It means literally "the existing one," from the root hayaw, "to be, become, or exist." This is the name that sets God apart from everything else. It originally come from the burning bush as "hayaw hayaw," which we translate as "I am that am," but which also means something like "being to be" expressed originally as a verb. (In the his original words about himself, God is a verb, not a noun.) As a noun this phrase might be, "the being (or becoming) of existence" or more simply, Yehova, th existing one.

Earlier I said that the most difficult phrase in the Lord's Prayer, was "hallow be thy Name," that is, "We consecrate or set apart this special human description for the being of existence."

So what is Christ saying about how we meet the challenges of our physical needs? To trust our ancient wisdom not the cravings of our body and that our life really comes from the outpouring that touches us of the foundation of existence.

However, like most of Christ's statements, this statement raises even more questions about the nature of human life and the nature of existence. What is that outpouring from existence, those words of God? Christ himself is described as the Word made flesh. The Holy Spirit is described as God's outpouring. There are deeper mysteries here that Christ answers later in his teaching.

As a hint of things to come, think about Christs use of the term "bread." What is the bread of life? Bread is the center of a stream of metaphors that connects seeds, to the growth of plants, to the harvest of grain, to the kneeding of yeast into bread, to the bread itself, to bread becoming flesh, to flesh becoming spirit. Remember, hayaw means to exist, but it also means "to become." One thing that sets Christ's words apart from the way we talk is that he always see the becoming of things, not just their existence. God is a verb, not a noun.

Christ's First Words in the Gospels

"Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do this to fullfil all righteousness." Christ said this to John when John complained that Christ should be baptizing him, but I believe that this statement is more than that. It is an expression of how we all have to live in our lives. It says:

1. We must accept our lives, the world, and what is happening right now.
2. We must do what is "proper" for us, that is, what our duty calls upon us to do.
3. Our goal should be to fullfil a purpose, that is, "all righteousness."

This statement outlines not only the basis of Christ's life but any of our lives. Is it an accident that these are the first words of the Gospels?

Of course, the most difficult word here is "righteousness." What is that? The word in the original Greek is dikaiosune which means the state that we are meant to be in, a state of virture and correct thinking, a state of completion, with a sense of justice, that is, that of getting and giving what is due.

So, why read the Gospels? Why think about religion? So we can accept our unique lives as the right thing for us, a position from which we can attain dikaiosune, correctness. What a great statement to begin the search for truth.

The Lord's Prayer - The Earthly and Divine

My interest in the words of Christ began with thinking about the "Our Father." Like most Christians, I learned the Lord's Prayer as a child. Some years ago I began comparing the key prayers of the world's religions. In doing that, I discovered that the Lord's prayer was different. While more central prayers in the world's religions are simple expressions of faith used almost as a chant, the Lord's prayer expressed ideas that you could spend a lot of time thinking about. Because you could interpret the Lord's prayer in a lot of different ways, at first I wondered which interpretation was correct. Over time, however, I came to understand that ALL of these interpretations could be correct at the same time.

Then I began to a set pattern of combining earthly concepts that we can easily comprehend with divine concepts that we can spend a lifetime wondering about.

For example, "Our Father in heaven," combines the earthly idea of fatherhood, something we understand with the idea of heaven, something we cannot comprehend. Then we go to "Hallow be thy name" again combining an incomprehensible idea, holiness, with an ideas we do grasp, our names for things. (Note: this is the most difficult like of the prayer, but more about that in future posts.) "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." While kingdom is an early idea, the will of God is a divine idea that is, again, incomprehensible. "On earth as it is in heaven." Here the dicotomy and connection between the knowable (earth) and the unknowable (heaven) is expressed directly as the centerpiece of the prayer.

"Give us this day our daily bread." At first, this seems to be an expression of a very earthly idea, our desire to satsify our earthly desires. However, this proved to be a very complicated line because Christ uses "bread" in a very specific way in the Gospels. This starts with almost his first words in Matthew. "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." So this line is expressing both our visible, earthly needs and our invisible spiritual needs and how God, an unknowable ideas, is the source of all our satisfaction.

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Again, the divine and earthly come together. Through divine forgiveness of our sins we gain the strength to forgive others there sins. Or, is it the other way around? Is it a deal whereby our sins are forgiven because we forgive others their sins? I believe Christ is saying both are true and a lot of other ideas as well.

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Again, the earthly idea we can related to "temptation" is contrasted with the incomprehensible idea of "evil." (After all, one of the BIG questions about God is about why He allows evil in the world.). We know a temptation when we see it, but we can never really know what evil is and what is behind it.

These patterns of alternating early ideas (our words) and divine concepts ("holiness" in the original sense of "set apart from regular life") is not something Christ does all the time in his speaking. Though he uses contrasting ideas ALL the time, the Lord's Prayer, humanity reaching out to God, consists of nothing but this contrast as Christ tries to help us bridge the gap between earth and heaven with his words. But, must more about this in the future.

Matters of Faith, Logic, and Meaning

First, I start simply by trusting that the words in the Gospels attributed to Christ represent what he said. This is taken on both faith bolstered by logic. Nothing else written in the New Testment sounds anything likes the words of Christ in the Gospels. Christ sounds only like Christ. Even given the huge difference between the synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John, the voice of Christ in both has the same sound. Christ seldom says anything directly (like most religious writers). He speaks in parables and contradictions. He has a unique way of using symbols (something we will examine in detail.) Yet, his words offer a consistent logic and a consistent description of reality.

The big division between the Jewish, Christian, and even Moslem worlds was not over Christ's message. It was over the divinity of Christ. Christians alone believed that Christ was the Son of God. This debate is meaningless to me. From reading the words of Christ, I get the sense that the humans debates divinity makes as much sense as cockroaches debating nuclear physics. It isn't that we aren't curious about it. It is just that we aren't equipt to comprehend it. Christ's direction that we just think of God as our Father to simplify things makes as much sense as anything. We must struggle to understand what Christ told us about God and his relationship with God and, if we look at what he said, we can undersand more about the nature of the universe and God role in it and our lives, but that alone takes a lot of work.

This blog takes two ideas on faith. First, that Jesus was speaking to us all when he addressed the people around him during the course of his life. His words were appropriate both for the context he was living in, but also for the context of our lives today. Second, that if we study his words, we can learn a great deal from them.