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JEDP Hypothesis, Q Theory, and the Critical Text… Oh My!

By Jeremy Myers
17 Comments

JEDP Hypothesis, Q Theory, and the Critical Text… Oh My!

JEDP Hypothesis
Warning: This post will interest only the most scholarly among you… It is written in answer to a question sent in by a reader about Genesis 1-2. Here is the question:

Question: Genesis 1 and Genesis 2  appear to be written by different people. How is your understanding on this?

Here is my roundabout way of answering:

Yes, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 do appear to be written by different people. Bible scholars have noted that different names of God are used in these two chapters, along with different terminology, different themes, and even a somewhat different order of events. These differences aren’t just with Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, of course, but with the entire Pentateuch.

The JEDP Hypothesis

This has led some scholars to suggest that there were maybe 4 authors (or groups of authors) for the Pentateuch, and they can be identified by their emphasis and by what name(s) for God they seemed to have preferred. This theory is called the Documentary theory or the JEDP hypothesis, and the four authors (or groups of authors) are identified as the Yahwist (J), the Elohist (E), the Deuteronomist (D), and the Priestly (P). According to this theory, it is believed that the Priestly author wrote Genesis 1:1-2:3 and the Yahwist wrote Genesis 2:4ff.

JEDP Hypothesis
Ever wonder what you learn in Seminary? This!

Q Theory

So what do I think of this theory? Well, I take an approach similar to how I approach a similar theory about the 4 Gospels in the New Testament. Conventional scholarly wisdom about the 4 Gospels says that there is a “Q” source document for the Gospels which has been lost. It is believed that Matthew and Luke had this “Q” (along with the Gospel of Mark) and used it to write their Gospel accounts.

Q Theory
…And this!

I never bought into this line of reasoning and remember having many long discussions and debates with other students about this when when I was in Bible college and seminary. My view is a minority opinion, of course, but I was thrilled to read a few years back something that N. T. Wright wrote about Q:

I have never completely caught the disease called Q, though from time to time I have experienced that shivery feeling, and the concomitant double vision, that those who have a chronic case of the Q disease reveal as their normal state.  I have experienced, though, an interesting phenomenon: my inability to make up my mind on the synoptic problem has not, I think, in any way impaired my ability to read Matthew, Mark, and Luke as Matthew, Mark, and Luke, nor indeed my ability โ€” though some would no doubt question this โ€” to think and write about this historical Jesus.

How People Write

So anyway, my view of the JEDP hypothesis is similar. I honestly believe Moses wrote most of the Pentateuch (probably all of it except the last chapter of Deuteronomy).  Did he have sources? Probably. He likely had some documents or oral traditions from which he drew, and which might account for the differences in the various texts.

Here’s my main concern: Why do modern biblical scholars do not give the same freedom and flexibility to biblical authors that we allows ourselves? Look, I have been writing for about 20 years. If I go back and look at the themes I wrote about 20 years ago, the words I used, the way I thought about God, the names I used for God, and a whole host of other ideas, the “me” of 20 years ago writes nothing like the “me” of today.

Even if I wrote something today and then sat down tomorrow to write it again without looking, I am certain I would phrase things different, write with a different emphasis, and refer to God in different ways. This is true of all authors around the world and throughout time. Cannot this also be true of biblical authors? Of course it can!

I sometimes think these documentary theories are nothing more than scholarly inventions to give scholars something to write about who have become bored with the biblical text itself.

Genesis 1-2

So to answer the original question. Were Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 written by different authors? No, I do not believe so. I believe Moses wrote both, though I believe that he may have used different sources or oral traditions to record the two accounts, but even then, both are accurate and simply reflect two different thematic perspectives on the creation account.

So do I believe in the JEDP hypothesis? Not really. Just like I don’t hold to the Q theory either.

Genesis 1-2(As long as I am off in the weeds writing about scholarly conventional wisdom which I do not accept, I might as well include here that I also do not accept most of the canons of textual criticism which give priority to the Critical Text based on a few early documents rather than the Majority Text  based on thousands of later documents…)

But guess what? Just as N. T. Wright wrote above that a rejection of the Q theory doesn’t keep him from understanding the Gospels, the rejection of the JEDP hypothesis doesn’t keep me from understanding the creation account or the rest of the Pentateuch. In Genesis 1-2 we can still see a beautifully constructed polemic against the Egyptian and Canaanite creation myths that were common in the days of Moses.

Wait… what? Am I saying that Genesis 1-2 do not offer a scientific treatise on how the universe began?

… We’ll have to save that as a question for another time…

The point is this: While the question of authorship is vitally important for understanding Scripture, the question of meaning is even more significant. In other words, the question “What does the text mean?” is way more important than the question “Who wrote this text?” And whether you believe Moses wrote Genesis 1-2 or some nameless Priestly author and Yahwist, you can still find great truth in the message of the text itself.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible and Theology Questions, Critical Text, Genesis 1-2, inerrancy, inspiration, JEDP, Majority Text, Q, Theology of the Bible

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Will Jesus’ second coming be in the clouds? I’m not so sure…

By Jeremy Myers
45 Comments

Will Jesus’ second coming be in the clouds? I’m not so sure…
Jesus Second Coming
Is this how Jesus’ Second Coming will look? I am not so sure…

I have been getting dozens upon dozens of questions from that “Ask a Scripture or Theology” section on the right sidebar of this blog. I am realizing that I might have to turn it off for a while just so I can get caught up… Ha! Many of the questions are similar though, so my wife says that maybe I should create a “FAQ” section to the blog, and that way, after I have answered a question, I can point people to the post where I have already answered it… I think I will follow her wise advice. Just another reason I love her!

Anyway, below is another question that came in recently. This one is about Jesus’ second coming. 


First, thank you for replying to my posts. Once in a while I see something online that I feel strongly moved to comment upon. The subject of saying “God bless you” is not what inspired me to make the comments, it just seemed like a good place to start.

Before I go any further, I need to tell you that it occurred to me after posting that you may have taken some of what I wrote as a personal criticism. That is by no means what I intended, not even in the least, and if my writing did give you that impression, I apologize.

The reasons I bothered posting are first, because I just “happened” upon your website this morning for the first time, when researching something I’m working on. One of the two biggest questions I’ve had in my own mind for some time now, with respect to traditional Christian theology, was regarding the meaning of 2 Timothy 3:16.

I knew I needed to find the meaning of the original words because I was fairly confident that there was a problem with the meaning of the word translated into English as “Scripture.” Your initial post answered my question thoroughly. Thank you for that. Responses from your readers were of additional help. As always, I got exactly what I needed, when I needed it. It still awes me that it continues to happen, and I hope I never become nonchalant about that. I’d like to add my own comments on that passage in 2 Timothy, and perhaps I will in the near future, but that is not the biggest priority in my work right now.

The second reason I posted was because of your apparent humility and lack of ego. I haven’t yet had the time to explore your website more thoroughly, but my first impression is that you try to present yourself as a fellow seeker who, in spite of formal theological training, understands that teaching and learning are inseparable, and neither of them is a one-way street. That is a refreshing change from the attitudes of so many evangelists both online and in the pulpit.

As I referenced your website while writing this, I came upon your statement that “my theology has changed a lot since I preached these sermons (which is one reason I am not a pastor today.)” That convinced me that I should ask you my next question.

There is another passage in the New Testament which I strongly feel has been misunderstood. I don’t have chapter and verse numbers memorized, so again I had to research before writing this.

Another awesome “coincidence” just happened again. I took a Bible down from the shelf and opened it. The first page I opened it to contained the passage I was looking for! That is Luke 17: 23-24. I’m sure you know the passage better than I do. It says, roughly translated, “People will say to you, look, there (he is)! Or, look, here (he is)! Do not go off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashing under heaven (across the sky), so will be the Son of Man.” The sense I get here is that Jesus will not appear in the flesh as the same Jesus of Nazareth who was speaking, but that it would be his spirit, the same spirit with which mankind is (or will be?) anointed, that will begin to manifest across the entire corpus of humanity, like flashes of lightning seen everywhere illuminating the darkness of the clouds. A beautiful metaphor for what I like to think of as the Beautiful Apocalypse. The earlier verse of Luke 17:21 seems to support that: “Neither will people say, ‘look, here!’ or, ‘look,there!’ for the kingdom of God is inside you.”

Also, in Mark 14:62, Jesus says, “You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.” This is a much more difficult verse to interpret for those of us who know neither Aramaic nor Greek, but the same interpretation seems to fit.

I don’t know if you’ve already addressed this in your blog, but I wonder if you might find time to share your thoughts on this?


Thank you for your many kind words, although I think you may have overestimated both my humility and my biblical knowledge…

Just this morning my ego lashed out at some poor soul on Twitter who accused me of blogging just so I could sell books. I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me, but we got in a bit of a tiff over it. Such a silly thing to argue about, but my ego got the best of me on that one. (For the record, yes, I like to sell books, but I also give away all my new eBooks for free to newsletter subscribers… If I was really just trying to sell books, would I be doing that? No.)

And regarding biblical knowledge, while I do have formal training, I think people sometimes place too much value on seminary education. I know for a fact that many seminary-educated people think their degree makes them better somehow than others. But I believe that having letters after your name doesn’t mean you know more about the Bible than anybody else. It may in fact mean you know less…

Jesus’ Second Coming

Anyway, that is not what you were asking about. You were asking about passages that speak of Jesus’ second coming, or the return of Jesus. You specifically mention Luke 17:20-24 and Mark 14:62.

I am by no means an expert on these texts. I have been studying and reading a lot about them in the last several years, but have no firm conclusions. So let me simply state some tentative ideas about these texts, and then trust God to lead you into more understanding about them.

The Traditional (??) Way of Understanding Jesus’ Second Coming

Jesus' Second Coming in the cloudsI followed the word “traditional” above with question marks because although this view is traditional for me (it is what I have been taught for most of my life), I am not sure that this is the traditional view throughout all church history. I suspect that it is not.

The traditional (??) understanding of passages like Luke 17:20-24 and Mark 14:62 is that they refer to Jesus’ second coming. And yes, if that is what these texts refer to, Jesus’ second coming will be visible worldwide and there will be no doubt in anyone’s mind of what is happening. This is why Jesus says that if you hear reports about His return, you don’t need to go see if it is true. When He returns, you will know.

If this is the way Jesus’ second coming occurs, I do think it will be with a physical body. Though the passages mention clouds and lightning, these are simply things that would accompany His return, and do not themselves describe the form Jesus will take when He returns.

So if Jesus comes on the clouds with lightning, but He is in physical form, how will everyone see His return? This I do not know. I can speculate that maybe the lightning will flash all around the earth and Jesus would take a quick trip around the earth as well so that all can see Him, but I simply do not know.

It would put us on dangerous theological ground to say that Jesus’ second coming will not be with a physical body. Just as Jesus came physically the first time, died a physical death, and was raised with a physical body, so also, Jesus’ second coming and His rule and reign on earth will be with a physical body. This is partly so that Jesus can continue to identify with us in our humanity, but also so that we are not deceived into thinking Jesus has already returned spiritually when in fact He has not (this was part of the error Paul tried to correct in the Thessalonian church).

The rest of this post is going to question whether or not passages like Luke 17:20-24 and Mark 14:62 actually refer to Jesus’ second coming. But note that by challenging the interpretation of these texts, I am not challenging the truth of Jesus’ second coming itself. I firmly believe that Jesus will return at some point in the future, and that He will return physically, and that He will rule and reign upon the earth from Jerusalem. I believe in Jesus’ second coming, but I am not so sure that this is what Luke 17:20-24 and Mark 14:62 are referring to…

An Alternate Understanding of Luke 17:20-24 and Mark 14:62

So, there are alternate ways of understanding those texts you mentioned. One of the leading proponents of this alternate way of reading these passages is one of my favorite Bible scholars: N. T. Wright. (He truly is someone who has letters after his name and who knows more about the Bible than most others.)

He argues, rather persuasively, that these sorts of passages about Jesus coming in the clouds should be read in light of Daniel 7:9-14 where the “son of man” is described as going from earth to heaven for vindication before God. Wright argues that passages like Mark 14:62 do not predict a future second coming of Jesus from heaven to earth, but rather, predict the coming of Jesus from earth to heaven. This event was fulfilled through the resurrection of Jesus, and especially during the ascension of Jesus when He did in fact go from earth to heaven on the clouds (cf. Acts 1:1-11) and then was seen at the right hand of God the Father (cf. Acts 7:55-56).

This is a relatively new idea for many, so I recommend N. T. Wright’s book, How God Became King.

As for myself, I am not fully convinced of Wright’s understanding of these texts, but I also see major problems with the traditional (??) view as well.

The Coming of Jesus and the Second Coming

My current view is that both views are right. Kind of. Yes, Mark 14:62 and Luke 27:23-24 refer primarily to the ascension of Jesus, not His second coming. However, numerous other texts are pretty clear that Jesus will return physically a second time. Furthermore, Acts 1:11 seems to indicate that Jesus will return to earth in a similar fashion as He left, that is, with the clouds.

I do not know exactly what it means for Jesus to return on the clouds, how this will look, or how it will work. For me, it is enough to know that Jesus will return and finally set up His Kingdom, of which there will be no end. Until that time, we are called to live as if the Kingdom was already here. Doing so points people to Jesus, helps people see what God really intended for the world, and invites everyone to look for that blessed and glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And that, actually, seems be how Jesus explains His own words. In Luke 17:21, which you referred to, Jesus says that one reason people should not look for observable signs of His second coming (cf. 17:20) is because the Kingdom of God is within you. This concept of the Kingdom of God being within us (or being at hand), is common throughout the teachings of Jesus. In my opinion, Jesus means that before the Kingdom of God arrives physically (as Jesus’ second coming), the Kingdom of God arrives spiritually in our lives.

As we live our day-to-day lives according to the principles and values of the Kingdom of God, God’s rule and reign expands in our own lives… in our thoughts, our actions, or words, and our deeds… The Kingdom of God does not reveal itself with flashes of lightning in the sky, with signs in the stars, and great miracles which cause men to take notice.

Jesus Second Coming through usNo, the Kingdom of God primary comes through giving cups of cold water, through speaking the truth in love, through loving, feeding, and clothing those who have less than we do, through hugs to the lonely, meals to the hurting, through being present with the broken.

What does this mean? It means that as followers of Jesus, we have no business sitting around twiddling our thumbs and waiting for Jesus to return. Jesus is returning right now, in us, through what we say and what we do. So let us stop waiting for flashes of lightning in the sky and Jesus coming on the clouds, and start looking for ways to show sparks of love to those around us, and let Jesus return today in how we live.

If you appreciated this post, please consider sharing this answer with others using the buttons below, because this way, others who have similar questions can get some direction and maybe even weigh in on the conversation. Thanks!

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible and Theology Questions, Jesus, Luke 17:20-24, Mark 14:62, return of Jesus, second coming, Theology of Jesus, Theology of the End Times

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What does “Son of God” mean?

By Jeremy Myers
63 Comments

What does “Son of God” mean?

I often get Bible and Theology questions sent in from readers of this blog. I recently decided to start posting some of my answers to these questions so that if others have similar questions, they can be helped, and so that you, the readers of this blog, can help answer them as well. This question relates to the meaning of the the phrase “Son of God.”


Question:

I found your invitation of having a cup of tea with you thank you very much, but alas I live in Pakistan. you asked me to tell you about me. I am 27 years old. I am an Ahmadi Muslim. I am student of comparative study of religions. I am married. And devoted my life for God.

You said I can ask you questions. So I want to know that when Jesus is said to be the son of God or God himself what is the source of this in Bible?

Secondly many people in Bible are called son of God but aren’t taken literally and Jesus himself said to Jews that because revelations of God come to me only in that sense I am a son of God as early Godly people were called. This is mentioned in John 10:34.


My Answer

I would love to join you for that cup of tea sometime, though I doubt I will ever make it to Pakistan! But who knows….

son of God
I guess there is a movie title “The Son of God” coming out this month. I had no idea until I started searching for images for this post. I think this is some art for this movie…

Please forgive me for not fully understanding the second half of your question…. the part about the Jews and revelation. I seem to understand the first part as a question about Jesus being the Son of God. You also reference John 10:34-36 where Jesus argues that it is not wrong for Him to call Himself the Son of God when in the Law it is written, “You are gods.”

Let me try to answer this part of your question about Jesus being the Son of God, and hopefully that will help answer the other part of your question as well.

So, regarding the title “Son of God,” many Christians believe that this is a reference to the divinity of Jesus, that is, that this title proves that Jesus was God in the flesh.

While I personally think that such an idea can be read into this title, I don’t think that the title “Son of God” meant “God” to people in the first century. Of course, nobody (back then or today) believes that “son of God” means that God gave birth to a son or had a son after intercourse with a human female. Such an idea is foreign to reason, tradition, and Scripture. Some people accuse Christians of believing this, but I have never heard or read of any Christian who does.

So what does it mean when Jesus is called the “Son of God”?

To find the answer, we actually have to ask is what would it mean for any human to be called the “son of God”? Why do I say this? Because Jesus didn’t make up this title out of thin air.

As you have pointed out, others in history bore this title. The term โ€œSon of Godโ€ was used occasionally for angels (Genesis 6; Job 1:6), for Israel (e.g., Exod 4:22), and sometimes for the king (such as 2 Sam 7:14, Ps 2:7 and Ps 89:27). Many in the Qumran community used the title to refer to the coming Messiah, even though none of them believed that the Messiah would be anything other than a specially-anointed human. All of these uses show that the term “Son of God” is not equivalent to “God” but is closer to meaning “of God’s family” or “having divine authority and purpose.”

However, it is also critical to point out that there was one person alive at the time of Christ who was famous for having taken the title “Son of God” for himself, and it wasn’t Jesus.

Who? The Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus. He had taken for himself the title “son of godโ€ (Latin: imperator Caesar divi filius). Not only that, the title “Augustas” is a religious title meaning “Majesty” or “Illustrious One.” He also claimed to be “the firstborn head” of the Senate gathering (Latin: primum caput). During his reign, he began requiring Roman citizens to pay homage to him, not only through taxation, but also through pledging their allegiance with the phrase “Caesar is Lord.”

Anyone who has read the New Testament should recognize the parallel claims of Jesus. The New Testament everywhere portrays Jesus to be the son of God, the firstborn head of the church, and those who follow Jesus are called to proclaim “Jesus is Lord.”

In this way, when using terms like the “son of God” about Jesus, the New Testament writers were certainly making theological claims about Jesus, but more than that, were making political claims about Jesus. In using titles like “the Son of God” for Jesus, the early church was saying that everything Caesar claimed for himself was actually only true in Jesus Christ. In taking these titles from Caesar and giving them to Jesus, the early church (and Jesus Himself) was subversively mocking the power claims of Caesar and the Roman Empire.

So does this mean Jesus Wasn’t God?

Now, does any of this mean that the term “son of God” does not imply that Jesus is God? No. To the contrary, the phrase “son of God” came to be understood by Paul and later New Testament writers as referring to the divinity of Jesus.

But I don’t think it necessarily meant this initially. No Jewish person would think that an angel was God, or that Israel was God, or that a king was god, but the term is used of them all. But through the ministry, life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus, people came to see that Jesus was more than just a man. He was God in the flesh. He was Immanuel, God with us. As such, they added additional meaning to the term “Son of God” so that it now refers to Jesus being God incarnate.

What is Jesus saying in John 10:34-36?

sons of God John 10 34So what about John 10:34-36? Jesus is quoting from Psalm 82:6. To understand Jesus, we must understand Psalm 82.

Essentially, Psalm 82 is where God, the judge of all, sits in judgment on corrupt human judges. Human judges have authority to judge, but their authority comes from God. In that sense, they can be called “sons of God.” They are sent with His authority.

In legal terminology, it is called de jure authority. It is derived authority. It has been delegated to them by someone with greater authority. The one with the greater authority has de facto authority. It is authority inherent within the person. Ultimately, only God has de facto authority.

So anyway, in Psalm 82, God, the de facto authority, shows up to condemn and judge the human judges, who have been using their de jure authority to make unjust judgments. They have not been helping the poor and fatherless, or the afflicted and needy. So God judges them, and says that although they are “sons of God,” that is, although He has given some of His authority to them to make judgments, they will still die like mere men (82:7).

This helps us understand what Jesus is saying in John 10:34-36. The religious leaders of His day also had de jure authority. Their authority derived from God. But they were misusing it and abusing their position of authority to make unjust judgments.

So Jesus challenged them on their judgments, and when they God upset, and asked Him by what authority He was doing and saying these things, He said that He had authority as a “Son of God.” What authority is that? Interestingly, it is the de jure authority! I believe He could have claimed de facto authority, but in this case He does not. Why not? For many reasons, but one is that Jesus knew His opponents were trying to bait Him, and He refused to take the bait. Instead, He claimed to have the same de jure authority that they had, but insisted that they were misusing and abusing their authority. He still made His point, but without falling into their trap.

This answer is probably more than you thought you would get, and I apologize for that.

I just feel that there are lots of Christians going about teaching sloppy ideas and careless theology, which then gets us in trouble when thinking people of other religions challenge us on our beliefs. For this reason, I try (but am not always successful) to be extremely careful in how I word things. But that usually leads to long and wordy answers like this one…

How do you understand the title “Son of God”?

So have you studied or read much about the title “Son of God”? What do you think it means? How do you understand it? How would you answer the questions posed above? Weigh in below!

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible and Theology Questions, Caesar, deity of Jesus, incarnation, John 10:34, son of God, Theology of Jesus

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Bible and Theology Questions 1

By Jeremy Myers
7 Comments

Bible and Theology Questions 1

I get a lot of Bible and theology questions sent in to me from the “Ask a Bible and Theology Question” section in the sidebar. Though I am not always able to respond by email to all that I get, I do try to respond to most.

I decided that as part of my response to these Bible and Theology questions, I would post my answers on this blog. I will probably do this once a week or so, and put some (but not all) of the answers I provided so that you can weigh in on them as well.

Bible and Theology questions


Question: If all life – human, animal, plant, angel – is in Christ, why didn’t all life come to an end when Christ died on the cross?

First, I am not sure it is correct to say that everything was in Christ. Being “in” Christ is a special New Testament concept for people who have believed in Jesus for eternal life. It refers to being spiritually identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.

I do think that Jesus died, buried, and rose again to redeem all things, but that is slightly different than being “in” Christ.

Furthermore, even for those of us who were “in” Christ, it is a spiritual identification, so that when He died, was buried, and rose again, we also died, were buried, and rose again with Him — spiritually.ย Romans 6 talks some about this.

It’s kind of like being “in” a country as a citizen. If we are citizens of that country, we are identified with it. But if that country ceases to exist, we continue to live, but our identity changes. Did you ever see the movie “The Terminal” with Tom Hanks? His county disbanded, but he continued to live.

That’s a really bad analogy, but it helps get at the point. Also, I am not trying to say that Jesus ceased to exist when He died…

My answer is getting off track pretty quick…

The bottom line is this: Being “in”Christ is a special theological concept in the New Testament which takes some study to comprehend. It means that we are identified with Christ in His life, death, burial, and resurrection, and as such, receive certain spiritual blessings and benefits as a result.

Oh, and one more thing. You asked why all life didn’t come to an end when Jesus died. Interestingly,ย it could be argued that it was through the death of Jesus that all life truly began.


Question: I turned my back on God and fear I cannot be fully-restored. How can I find out if it is possible or not? I was a Spirit filled born-again believer and I turned my back on God and entered into some very terrible sins. I keep living this lifestyle and fear my salvation is at risk. Even though I read scriptures on confessing, etc.. I do not feel any better.

Please help me.

There is a lot about your situation I do not know, but let me try to answer what I can from the little you have told me.

First, if you have believed in Jesus for eternal life, you are already fully restored. As a child in God’s family, you are loved, forgiven, accepted, and reconciled to God. You have been regenerated, indwelled, baptized, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.

However, your sins may have caused some broken fellowship between you and God. Think of your relationship with God like any other human relationship. If you are born into a family, you are a child of your parents and brother to your siblings no matter what. These bonds cannot be erased or undone. However, even though you are part of the family, you may not have contact with your parents or with your siblings for years on end. This means that you are out of fellowship with them. You are still in the family, but fellowship is broken. To restore that fellowship, you would have to maybe confess some sin to them, humble yourself and return to them, or simply get on the phone and call them up.

It is the same with God. If you have believed in Jesus for eternal life, you are in the family. Nothing can break that bond. However, sin can break fellowship with God and with other believers. This is why confession and repentance are important.

forgiveness of GodSo some of the issues you are facing may simply be some misunderstanding about the nature of your relationship with God. Once you understand that He loves and forgives you completely, and that you are in His family forever, this liberates you to love Him in return and not be worried about sin making God angry at you (He was never angry at you in the first place).

Remember that when Jesus died for your sins, all of them were future to Him, and He died anyway. Not one of your sins surprised Him or made Him wish He had not died for you. He loves you infinitely, forgives you completely, and wants to be restored into fellowship with you.

As for not feeling better, this is one of the negative consequences of sin. Sin does not take us out of God’s grace or forgiveness, but it does damage us emotionally, psychologically, physically, mentally, and even spiritually. But you will not be able to break the habit of sin on your own. You need to first realize how much God loves you–even in the midst of your sin.ย Until you understand the love of God, no victory over sin and temptation will be possible.

So focus on God’s infinite love for you. Over time, you will begin to see that sin no longer has the temptation that it once did.

I have written about some of this in my book, Why You Have Not Committed the Unforgivable Sin. Feel free to get it from Amazon.com.


Question: When the so-called Reformation happened all it did was reform the same old religion and not the church. There is no such thing as popes, priests, and pastors. If you think about it they’re all the same thing.

I agree with you. The Reformation did little to change much about the “Christian religion.” I think it did help to remove some of the abuses of religion, but it introduced a whole host of others.

I am glad, however, that Martin Luther helped remind the church that eternal life is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Anyway, regarding pastors and priests, I have written several posts on the topic of pastors, and will be putting out a book about this in the next year or two… To get it for free, make sure you have subscribed to the email newsletter.

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Bible and Theology Questions, forgiveness, grace, in Christ, pastors, Q&A, reformation

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Why is Jesus delaying His Return?

By Jeremy Myers
11 Comments

Why is Jesus delaying His Return?

A reader sent in this question about Jesus’ statement in John 14:2, “I go now to prepare a place for you.” The reader wants to know why Jesus is delaying His return. Here is the question:

If Jesus is all powerful, why does he say, “I go now to prepare a place for you”?

On a related note, I remember watching old movies when the white colonialist looks down on natives who believe their God will return and thinks they’re simple; but isn’t that what we are doing when we say Jesus will return?

Also, I’ve sometimes heard people say that the reason Jesus is waiting to return is because He wants to save more people, but if that is true, why doesn’t He just wait forever?

This is somewhat a multi-pronged question, which requires a multi-pronged answer. Not surprisingly, my answer will be… less than traditional. Also not surprisingly, I need two posts to answer these questions… This post will provide a general answer to the questions above, and tomorrow’s post will look at the statement of Jesus in John 14:2 in more detail.

Does Jesus Need Time to Prepare a Place for Us?

First, the reader is right to think it strange that Jesus requires time to go prepare a place for us. I have sometimes heard preachers say this: “It took God six days to create the universe; so far, Jesus has been preparing a place for us for 2000 years! Imagine what a place it will be!”

new heavens and new earthWell… that preaches…. but is it true? The person who sent in the question is right. Technically, if God is omnipotent, that is, if He is all-powerful, then He didn’t even need six days to form creation. He could have done so with a snap of his divine fingers. For reasons which I won’t get into here, God chose to form and fill creation through a much slower process than simply by snapping His fingers. I don’t care whether you think it was over six days or six-billion years, creation was not instantaneous.

So there is a reason God takes time to accomplish His will. And whether it takes six days or 2000 years, I don’t think we can say that the amount of the time which passes has any bearing whatsoever on the complexity or beauty of the work that God is doing. So we can’t say that the delay of Jesus to return is evidence that the place he is preparing for us will be exponentially better than the place we have now. I think it will be better, but not because of how much time it is taking… time has nothing to do with it.

So why is it taking so long for Jesus to return? I want to explain this statement in more detail (which I will do in tomorrow’s post), but let’s temporarily move on to the second and third questions sent in by the reader.

Will Jesus Really Return?

The reader asked about white colonialists looking down on natives who believed that their god would return, and asked how this is any different than the Christian belief that our God will return.

return of JesusI do admit, on the surface, it does seem rather strange, though I never made the connection with the colonialists. For me, the promised return of Jesus always reminded me of the prophesied return of King Arthur. You know… King Arthur and his knights of the round table. Did you know that there are predictions that King Arthur will come again? Most everybody scoffs at the idea, realizing that it is just part of the legend that surrounds the stories of King Arthur.

But this is how many non-Christians view the Christian belief that Jesus will come again. None of us think that King Arthur will come again, so why do we believe that Jesus will? The short answer is that unlike King Arthur, Jesus was God incarnate, and Jesus rose from the dead. This answer is not satisfactory to people who do not believe the Scriptural accounts about Jesus, and to them I recommend N. T. Wright’s book, The Resurrection of the Son of God and the book by Paul Eddy and Greg  Boyd, The Jesus Legend. Both of these books do a masterful job showing how the Gospel accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are historically reliable. No other explanation really makes sense.

And yet, I think it was wrong for the colonialists to look down on the people among whom they worked. I think that the natives were right in their belief that God would return, but only slightly wrong in the identity of this God. The colonialists should have affirmed and praised the people for their belief. The desire to reconnect with God and be restored into relationship with Him is a universal belief, and is something which God has placed in the hearts of all people.

Christians should almost never look down on the religious traditions and beliefs of other cultures, but should instead look for the ways which God has interwoven Himself into their traditions and beliefs, and then work to show how the longings of their hearts which are expressed in these traditions and beliefs are actually fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

But let’s move on to the third question…

Is Jesus Waiting for the Full Number of Gentiles to Come In?

Sometimes it is taught that the reason Jesus hasn’t returned is because He is waiting for the full number of Gentiles to come in. This idea comes from Romans 11:25, where Paul writes something along these lines.

return of JesusAgain, I have often heard it taught that there is this big heavenly scoreboard in heaven which is counting down toward zero, and every time a person believes in Jesus for eternal life, that countdown gets closer to zero. When it finally does reach zero, Jesus will return. When I have heard this preached, the audience is always told to go out and evangelize and witness to their friends and neighbors, because you never know if all of heaven and earth is just waiting on you to tell your neighbor about Jesus because they are the final Gentile to be brought in.

I am not going to say anything about this. I think this sort of teaching is manipulative and puts lots of people on guilt-trips, and causes people to think that the only thing that matters is preaching the gospel to our neighbors, and getting another notch on our evangelism belt (or dropping another number off the divine scoreboard), rather than actually getting to know our neighbors and love them like Jesus.

A proper understanding of what Paul is saying in Romans 11:25 would require a detailed study of Romans 9-11, something I am not going to tackle here. But suffice it to say for now, I don’t think it has anything to do with a divine scoreboard in heaven. Our evangelism efforts do not speed up or delay the return of Jesus Christ.

I think there is a great misunderstanding in the church about what it means for Jesus to return, and what it meant for Him to “go away” and much of this misunderstanding has led to great manipulation and spiritual abuse in the Christian church.

Once we properly understand what Jesus meant when He talked about going away to prepare a place for us, and what He meant when He said He would come again, I think we will see that our job as Christians right now is not just to sit at the bus station waiting for Jesus to come pick us up and deliver us from this sinful earth so we can go to the divine paradise club in heaven. That, I think, is a big lie… but we will look more at that tomorrow.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible and Theology Questions, end times, full number of Gentiles, John 14:2, prophecy, resurrection, return of Jesus, Theology of Jesus, Theology of the End Times

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