restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Blessed Is the Internet (Sort Of)

 David Alan Black  

The Internet is an odd contrivance. It digs deep and runs shallow, all at the same time. The technology is modern but the goal is ancient: self-expression of the most diverse kind.

It’s hard for me to imagine that there was a time when the word “blogger” did not exist. It seems like everyone today has an opinion about everything. Some moderns react vehemently against such morosophic bloviation, but I enjoy the Internet’s magniloquence.

For what it’s worth, I think the greatest weakness of cyberspace is also its greatest strength: its anthropocentricity. Generally speaking, it’s a bad idea to follow any man, even web-savvy reformers. If you will look at the history of the church, you will see that the great reformers did not set out to establish hard-and-fast guidelines for others. They were simply trying to find out how they could give themselves wholly to God without any strings attached. As Karl Barth was fond of saying with regard to his famous Romans commentary, he felt like a man in a dark bell tower, groping to find his way, who had reached out to steady himself and suddenly heard a bell ringing.

Beware, then, the Internet and cyberspace, webmasters and blogosphers. God calls us to relationships in real time, in which we are to find our ministries. I live a fairly mundane life surrounded by different groups of people to whom I desire to minister: my family, my rural farming community, the people of Averett Baptist Church, my seminary students, the believers in Ethiopia, my doctoral candidates. The question I constantly ask myself is, What are their needs, and how can I best serve them? When I have time left over, I blog.

Perhaps because I edit a website myself I am always a little wary of what people say or write. The Bible teaches that all of us, by nature, are basically egotistical, centered in ourselves and sinful. This means that a disciple of the Lord Jesus must be very honest about admitting his own inadequacy, insisting always that Jesus increase while he decreases. True, there needs to be a healthy interdependence among Christians, but never a co-dependence. God alone is the real Teacher, and the Bible alone His textbook.

Of course, I will continue to bloviate as long as I can persuade myself that I am being useful in pointing others to Christ. But to be honest, at any given moment each of us who clicks a mouse realizes that much of what we read (and write) is idle talk. By definition the Internet is opinion. It is when it becomes an impeccable guide that our troubles begin.

So, there’s a place for the Internet, for cyber-conversations, for quibbling and caviling. But in the end we must each go our own way, guided by the only True Light we have.

November 29, 2007

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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Five Things to Do Until You Master Greek

 David Alan Black  

So you’re studying New Testament Greek and finding it a bit of a challenge. A lot of people don’t stick with it. “I tried learning Greek and it didn’t work for me.” The problem with these people may just be that they never learned persistence. Do you want to master the Greek language and be able to use it in your walk with God and in your service for Him? If you do, you will have to put forth some effort. How can we “stick with it” in a practical sense? 

One aspect of persistence is spending time in your Greek New Testament every day. Notice, I said spend time. It’s an investment, a conscious choice on your part. Don’t wait for it to just happen. Make time in the Greek text an indispensable part of your day. I do, and I never fail to benefit from it. If you need to, use any help that is out there, including interlinears. Yes, I said interlinears – which are usually considered anathema to Greek teachers. But if an interlinear can get you into the text, it’s worth the effort. As one preacher put it, “Halitosis is better than no breath at all.” Amen!

Second, take time to pray. Ask God to help you. For many Greek students, things go well for a few weeks. But as soon as a little difficulty comes their way they say, “Forget it. This is impossible.” That’s when you need to go to God in prayer. John wrote, “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15). Prayer is your lifeline to God and your only source of strength. Take advantage of it.

Third, those who want to master the Greek language must grow constantly in their knowledge of grammar. If you’ve already had a year of Greek but are floundering, why not pick up a good intermediate textbook and begin reviewing your paradigms and syntax? Dan Wallace’sGreek Grammar Beyond the Basics is excellent for this purpose. Others find myIt’s Still Greek to Me helpful. If you’re going to master Greek you’re going to have become a perpetual student of the language. I’m sorry, but there aren’t any shortcuts, no easy solutions. We can’t skip a grade or two.

Fourth, to master Greek means to be patient with yourself. You put one foot in front of the other. It’s a steady gait, not a foot race. As I said above, the only way to get the job done is to stick with it.

Finally, let me suggest that you teach others what you’re learning. It’s often been said that the best way to learn something is by teaching it. This can make all the difference. It’s interesting that my best students tend to be those who are teaching Greek to others, whether in their small group fellowships or to their children at home or in their Sunday School classes. Last year I taught beginning Greek in my local church every Monday night for a year. We started out with 55 students and finished with six. At times I almost decided to give up. It’s at times like these that I have to ask myself, “Who am I serving? Am I doing this for God or for me?” The Bible says, “Let us not grow weary while doing what is good, because at the right time we will reap a harvest if we do not lose heart” (Gal. 6:9). I’m so proud of those six students who finished the course, who ran the race to the end. I’m also deeply appreciative of the efforts of those who had to drop out along the way, some for serious medical problems. (My wife Becky, one of my very best students, had to leave the course because of her surgery and chemotherapy).

I know that Greek can be tough. If anyone ever experienced a sinking feeling while studying this language, it was me. I dropped out of my beginning Greek class at Biola after only three weeks! Thankfully I went on to take Moody Bible Institute’s correspondence course and, by God’s grace, aced it. Remember what Peter’s problem was when he was walking on the water? He took his eyes off the Lord. And that just about says it all.

October 20, 2010

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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Codependent No More!

 David Alan Black  

I have been a Christian educator all of my adult life. I speak in churches most every Sunday. I am a firm believer in the public teaching and preaching of God’s Word. I have written not a few books about the Bible. God’s truth is the spiritual food that is absolutely necessary for spiritual growth.

Yet no single person or program or product in the church is given the responsibility of teaching the Bible. This includes Sunday School, Awana, sermons, seminars, and websites. A Bible study class of any kind may be a helpful auxiliary to spiritual growth, but it is not to replace personal Bible study. Similarly, public and corporate prayer is a wonderful thing. But Christians must develop habits of daily, private, personal prayer. Mature Christians do not expect others in the church to do all the praying for them. Neither will they become overly dependent on a Christian leader or a Bible teacher for their spiritual diet. And certainly no Bible teacher holds the magical “key” to any aspect of the Christian life.

When Jesus was on earth He gathered His disciples together and taught them personally. Into these men and women He poured His life and truth. Nothing has changed today except that Jesus now continues His teaching ministry through the Holy Spirit and through the Word of God. He still desires to speak to us personally, and as we grow in our personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus we learn to walk in a manner pleasing to Him. Of course, our ascended Lord also delights to speak to us through “pastors and teachers” whom He has gifted to communicate biblical truth (Eph. 4:11), as well through others who have the gift of teaching (Rom. 12:7). But this should never take the place of the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit to us through the Scriptures. “All of you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things,” wrote elder John. “You don’t need anyone to teach you!” (1 John 2:20, 27).

The tragic truth is that American Christianity has become spiritually codependent. A spirit of deep sleep, to use Isaiah’s phrase, has fallen on the faddish evangelical church. It cannot seem to make up its mind about anything until it first consults Dr. So-and-So to see what he says. When the counsel of men is heeded more than the Word of God, the devil always stirs up trouble. This is the day of the “expert,” and we listen to fallible men more than the infallible Scriptures. The Good News is that through the New Covenant Jesus has set us free and we are His. We need no pope or prelate to tell us what course we are to set. We may legitimately make use of all the avenues of sound biblical teaching available to us today. But unless we have the mind of Christ and a clear conviction based on personal study of the Bible we shall make no real progress. Finite Bible scholars cannot provide this conviction. Indeed, they need it as much as anyone else.

Something, someone, governs the thoughts and actions of every one of us. May that something always be the Bible, and that someone be the Lord Himself.

February 15, 2007

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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Karl Barth and the German Church Conflict

 David Alan Black

In my essay “Do We Need a New Barmen Declaration?” I attempted to discuss some of the disconcerting similarities between the Third Reich of Adolf Hitler and the current scene in America. The most disturbing parallels concern what appear to be the reluctance on the part of the Christian church in America to confront the evils of statism in a way the Confessing Church of Germany did in the 1930s.

This does not mean that the state is inherently anti-Christian or that it always fails to promulgate Christian convictions. In fact, political leaders and parties often claim to stake out their positions believing they are supporting biblical principles. The problem, however, is this: in the very act of asserting its “Christian” principles, the state all too easily undermines the very principles it purportedly seeks to sustain. The result, unfortunately, is a situation in which you have wolves that appear very much like sheep.

As Christine Elizabeth King has shown in her book The Nazi State and the New Religions, many Nazi party leaders used religious ideas freely in their speeches, especially Goebbels and even Hitler, who declared himself to be God’s special agent. Moreover, biblical terminology can be found in many party speeches, though because of its Jewishness the Old Testament was taboo. References made in Nazi circles to “positive Christianity” show an awareness of the ideas later adopted by the German Christians. These references suggested that Jesus was a true Aryan who had founded “positive Christianity,” which, however, had been corrupted by the “Rabbi” Paul who judaized Christ’s heroic Aryan ideals. As King notes, “Pauline theology had thus corrupted Christianity, but Hitler had arisen to cleanse it and restore it in its true form to Germany.” Many Christians in Germany believed this new emphasis accorded with attempts to make the church’s teaching relevant and to “demythologize” the Old Testament and parts of the New Testament in ways suggested by the liberal trends of the day.

As early as 1920, the program of the NSDAP stated its support for “positive Christianity,” which proved to be an invaluable tactical aid in convincing the religious masses that they could support National Socialism without betraying their religious convictions:

We insist upon freedom for all religious confessions in the state, providing they do not endanger its existence or offend the German race’s sense of decency and morality. The Party as such stands for a positive Christianity, without binding itself denominationally to a particular confession. It fights against the Jewish-materialistic spirit at home and abroad and believes that any lasting recovery of our people must be based on the “spiritual principle” that the welfare of the community comes before that of the individual.

Nazi propagandists encouraged such thinking although they presented the new emphasis in terms that linked it clearly to the new political message. Party rallies were made to appear as a form of “divine service” (Gottesdienst) or the equivalent. Similarly, the party had its own religious “texts” in the form of slogans. The Jews were the “enemy,” and the mention of “evil” became identified with traditional Christian anti-Semitism. Thus the “satanic influence” of Judaism had to be destroyed before the political millennenium was possible.

If the church struggle in Germany was a struggle for religious liberty under a totalitarian state, it was also—and perhaps primarily—a struggle of the church against itself—a struggle for it to remain faithful to the Gospel and to Jesus Christ. As I mentioned in my previous essay, it was Karl Barth, then professor of systematic theology in Bonn, who became the leading spokesman for a small but articulate group within the Protestant churches that challenged the ethos of National Socialism by an abrasive call to return to the prophetic witness of the biblical revelation. Above anything else, it was the ecclesiastical triumphalism of the Protestant establishment that provoked him to write his polemics against the state, including a piece entitled Quousque Tandem, a portion of which may be quoted here:

Laying aside all professional long-windedness, discretion, and prudence, I have this comment to make: It is a scandal which cries to heaven that the German evangelical church is always talking in this way…. Professor Schneider speaks for dozens of our leaders and for hundreds and thousands of our pastors. I have nothing against him and those like him, but I have everything against the sort of language with which he and the army of those like him are leading this country astray. I am sick, too, of holding my peace…. If we allow ourselves to be constantly addressed in this way, if we fail to protest, if this language is listened to and given credence, then in its inmost being the Church has already ceased to live.

Barth thus set himself against the establishment church of his day, and the dividing lines had been clearly drawn. Reich Bishop Ludwig Müller had proclaimed, “We must emphasize with all decisiveness that Christianity did not grow out of Judaism but developed in opposition to Judaism. When we speak of Christianity and Judaism today, the two in their most fundamental essence stand in glaring contrast to one another. There is no bond between them, rather the sharpest opposition.” Barth, however, made it clear that such a position on Judaism was unacceptable. In 1933 he wrote:

Protests against the German Christian heresy cannot simply begin with the Aryan Paragraph, nor with their rejection of the Old Testament, the Arianism of their Christology, the naturalism and pelagianism of their teachings of justification and sanctification, nor with the idolization of the state that characterizes German Christian ethics. Rather our protest must be directed fundamentally at the source of all those individual heresies: at the fact that, next to the holy scripture as the sole revelation of God, the German Christians claim German Volkstum, its past and its political present, as a second revelation. We thereby recognize them as believers in “another God.”

“Believers,” yes, said Barth; but “believers in another God”! To Barth, the essence of the German Christian movement was obvious. By elevating Volkstum—race—to the level of revelation, they had opened the floodgates to a torrent of non-Christian and anti-Christian beliefs, attitudes, and activities. Blurring racial and religious categories, the German Christians defined the church as essentially and primarily anti-Jewish, and it was this idea that became the fixed point around which spokesmen of the movement structured and organized their views.

When Hitler became Chancellor on January 30, 1933, the German Christians were already well organized. Hiller’s policy at this time was still to try and persuade the populace that his party was Christian and that he himself was neutral with respect to the various denominations. Thus in his speech before the first meeting of the Reichstag on March 23, 1933, he declared:

The national Government sees in the two Christian Confessions the most important factors for the preservation of our nationality. It will respect the agreements that have been drawn up between them and the provincial states. Their rights are not to be infringed. It expects, however, and hopes that conversely the work upon the national and moral renewal of our nation, which the Government has assumed as its task, will receive the same appreciation. All other denominations will be treated with the same impartial justice…. The rights of the churches will not be curtailed; their position in relation to the State will not be changed.

When the German Christians held their first national convention in Berlin on April 3-5, Dr. Friedrich Werner, later president of the Evangelical Church government office, declared that the basis of the church’s constitution had to be the “Führer” principle. Only then could the unification of church and state produce the necessary increase of power needed by the nation. The convention closed by passing a resolution that called for the creation of a Reich Church and the right of believers to revolt. The resolution included these words:

God has created me a German. Germanism is a gift of God. God wants me to fight for my Germany. Military service is in no sense a violation of Christian conscience, but is obedience to God…. For a German the Church is the fellowship of believers who are obligated to fight for a Christian Germany. The goal of the “Faith Movement of ‘German Christians’” is an evangelical German Reich.

With this statement we come to the relevance of this essay to our own situation. Barth and others like him resisted peace at any price. To those who believed in accommodation with the idolatrous state he stated, in unmistakably clear terms, “No Compromise!” Thus the heart of the German church struggle lay in the confessing of Jesus Christ, for to confess Christ meant not to confess others as Christ. Witness to Jesus Christ alone meant, under the Third Reich, the denial of neo-German paganism and of the German-Christian heresy. Certainly we are in a totally different situation today, yet as we read these statements of Barth we find our own situation mirrored in them. It may be that our way forward is also to be found in them—the way of confession to Jesus Christ alone.

July 17, 2003

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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Ethiopia Report (Part 5b): Visiting Deda

 Becky Lynn Black 

At the end of our time in Ethiopia, we were given a very special honor and privilege: a visit to the home of our son David Halango. “David” is not his birth name. Not until we arrived in Ethiopia did he take the Christian name David.  He had asked the Lord for 12 years to give him Christian parents, and in the perfect timing of our Lord we were sent to him. He was born into a Muslim family and was given the name “Ahmed.” As the oldest son in his family, he was given every privilege possible. His father Halango is truly a great man, a strong leader in the community of Deda. When David entered secondary school, he was sent to live with an uncle in Alaba Town. A friend at school introduced him to Christ.  Unlike most strong Muslim parents, Halango did not throw Ahmed out of the family. His love for his son has continued strong, and it is this love that has moved him to openness to the Gospel.

David and his parents at their home in Deda village

Today, Halango is no longer actively persecuting those coming to Christ in the Deda village, but he also has not embraced the Lord Jesus for himself. Last summer he came to a showing of the Jesus Film. Over 400 people watched the movie on a little 15-inch laptop! And 38 of these people made decisions for Christ. Although he himself didn’t decide for Christ, he said he was open to listening to Christian music. So I took him a small cassette recorder, some rechargeable batteries, a recharger, and a voltage/plug adapter. He can go into town to recharge the batteries at the Alaba town church.

Giving Halango the cassette player

During our short visit to their home, we basked in the hospitality of Halango and his wife Achame. It was an honor to be included in their family, to eat at their table, and to sleep in their home. David’s brother walked 12 hours  to be with us in their home!  At the end of our visit, as we were leaving, Halango reached for my hand, and I savored the moment – a strong Muslim man holding the hand of a white Christian woman from America; he was making a statement to all in the community that the Christians were to be respected and appreciated. (Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that it was unsafe for a white foreigner to travel in this section of Ethiopia, so strong was their hatred because of the Iraq situation!) Halango is not far from salvation. And he has such strong influence in the community, when he comes through the door many will follow him. Please, please, please pray for his heart to be opened to the Gospel. It is Christ’s love in David and others that is drawing this man. There is no replacement for love.  

Leaving David’s village

Fifteen years ago, when David came to Christ, there were two other boys from this village who also came to Christ. This was the birthing of the Lord’s church in Deda. It grew slowly. First a hut was built; churches in Muslim areas need quiet beginnings, so a simple hut that looks like a home attracts less attention. But as the congregation grew strong in number and in Christ, a church building was needed. So two years ago, a simple rectangular building was erected. It has mud-&-stick walls, wood shutters and doors, a tin roof, and a few crude benches. Since the building was erected, the congregation has exploded. As I’ve already mentioned, 38 came to Christ last August after the showing of the Jesus Film on a laptop. In fact, in the 4-month period prior to our visit, no less than 198 (!) new believers have come to this church. (And while we were there another 15 came to Him.) Imagine growing from a congregation of 100 to 300 in only 4 months! And most of the new believers are young people in the 20-30 year age range. I tell you, if this doesn’t get you excited, you must be dead!

The elders of the Deda congregation

As Dave and I met with the “elders” (themselves young men), we were impressed with men who are young in the faith but are eager to grow in our Lord Jesus. They are so “green” in spiritual issues, it was downright refreshing. Their’s is a simple faith, uncomplicated by religious tradition or church polity. Jesus is Lord – this is the simple truth they know and live by. We asked the leaders, “How can we help you?” They asked for 3 things, and we offered a fourth. What were they? (1) A guitar, with which to draw people to the church services; no one has any musical instruments (except the traditional drum), so people come just to see the guitar being played. (2) Benches to sit on, so they don’t have to gather leaves every Sunday to cover the dirt floor; greenery is scarce. (3) A perimeter foundation of stones and concrete to keep the termites from eating their building; termites are an extreme problem in much of Ethiopia. (4) Bibles; they have only 20 Bibles in a congregation of 300!

We have always taken unallocated money with us on our trips, ready to minister to those the Lord puts in our path. On this trip, we had provided funds for two blind boys in Burji, so they could go to Addis for examination. And we had given funds for medical treatment to several impoverished believers in Alaba. But the Lord hadn’t directed us much with regards to the use of this money. 

They asked for a picture of the gift for their benches

When we met with the Deda church, we understood why our Lord had arranged things as He had. We had on our persons the funds for the benches and the guitar. And we made an agreement with the Deda leaders: if two-thirds of the congregation would memorize the nine passages of Scripture for the Bible memory program, we would, by God’s grace,  fund the concrete perimeter and give a Bible to anyone who had completed the program. I wish you could have seen their faces when we told them!  Words simply cannot express their excitement. “We will do it!” they exclaimed with joy. In addition, we encouraged them to assume responsibility for the teaching of their little flock, so we gave them some basic books on understanding the Scriptures.

The “life story” of this little congregation in the Deda village is typical of many villages in Alaba. Our Lord is ready to save; He is willing to save; He is able to save. And He is preparing to do a great work in the Alaba area of Ethiopia. The only question is: are we ready to work in the harvest? 

Next report: Going on from here – preparing for the harvest

Ethiopia Report (Part 1)

Ethiopia Report (Part 2)

Ethiopia Report (Part 3)

Ethiopia Report (Part 4)

Ethiopia Report (Part 5a)

February 14, 2006

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13 Cosas que su Profesor de Griego debe decirle

 David Alan Black 

http://www.newtestamentgreekportal.blogspot.com

1. El griego no es la única herramienta que necesitará para interpretar el Nuevo Testamento. De hecho, es un componente entre muchos. Aprenda griego; sin embargo, no pare allí. Necesitará también, por ejemplo, el hebreo del Antiguo Testamento y el griego de la Septuaginta.

2. El griego no es el “¡Ábrete, Sésamo!” de la interpretación bíblica. Lo que hace es delimitar las opciones: le dice qué es posible, y luego el contexto y otros factores sirven para aclarar el texto.

3. El griego no es superior a los demás idiomas del mundo. No crea cuando le dicen que el griego es más lógico que, por ejemplo, el hebreo.No es así.

4. No es que Dios tuviera que emplear el idioma griego para darnos el Nuevo Testamento, supuestamente debido a su sintaxis complicada. La verdad es que existe una sola razón por la cual el Nuevo Testamento fue escrito en griego y no en otra lengua (por ej., latín): es por un hombre llamado Alejandro Magno, cuya visión era conquistar el mundo habitado y luego unirlo por medio de un proceso conocido como la “helenización”. En gran medida, tuvo éxito; entonces el uso del griego como la lengua franca a través del mundo mediterráneo en el primer siglo no debe sorprendernos hoy. Enfatizo este punto, solamente porque hay algunos hoy en día que quieren resucitar la noción de un supuesto “Griego del Espíritu Santo.” Su perspectiva es, a mi parecer, obviamente una calle sin salida.

5. Una palabra griega no tiene un solo significado. Sin embargo, ¿cuántas veces escuchamos en un sermón que, “Esta palabra en griego significa…”? La gran mayoría de las palabras griegas son “polisémicas”; es decir, tienen muchos posibles significados, uno de los cuales es una contribución semántica a cualquier pasaje donde ocurra. (Es más – La práctica de usar todos los significados de una palabra griega dentro de un pasaje en particular donde ocurre es llamada por los lingüistas “transferencia ilegítima de la totalidad,” ver D. A. Carson, Falacias Exegéticas, p. 59).

6. No es difícil aprender griego. Lo digo otra vez: no es difícil aprender griego. Me gusta decirles a mis alumnos, “El griego es un idioma fácil; es nosotros, los maestros de griego, que causamos tantos problemas en el aprendizaje de este idioma.” El punto es que todo el mundo puede aprender griego, hasta este surfistahawaiano con poca educación. ¡Si yo puedo dominar el griego, todos pueden!

7. Se puede aprender griego de varias maneras, incluso con la mayoría de los textos para principiantes. Es cierto que prefiero mi propio libro,Aprenda a Leer el Griego del Nuevo Testamento (Learn to Read New Testament Greek) en mis clases, pero el mío no es el único texto. Cuando vivía en California, enseñé en una institución que requería que todos sus maestros de griego usaran el mismo texto para griego básico. Yo rotundamente me opuse a esa política. Creo muy fuertemente que los maestros deben tener el derecho de usar cualquier texto que prefieran. Afortunadamente, el año cuando salí de California para mudarme a Carolina del Sur, ellos cambiaron la política, y ahora los maestros pueden escoger los textos del primer año a su gusto. (A propósito, ¡el texto que ellos habían requerido era el mío!).

8. Algunos estudiantes de griego opinan que pueden salir bien librados tras haberse atrasado en sus estudios. Amigos, ¡no se puede! Les digo a mis alumnos que es casi imposible ponerse al día en el trabajo aunque se trate solo de un capítulo del texto. El estudio de un idioma requiere disciplina y la habilidad de gestión del tiempo, quizás más que cualquier otro curso académico.

9. ¡El griego es divertido! Al menos, cuando uno lo enseña de manera divertida.

10. El griego sirve para mucho más que el estudio de palabras. De hecho, en los últimos años he iniciado una cruzada para apartar a mis alumnos de una exégesis que es meramente de palabras. Cuando estaba en el seminario, me enseñaron un poco más que cómo llevar a cabo estudios de palabras griegas. Por lo tanto, pensé que había “usado el griego en mi ministerio” si había consultado a Wuest, A. T. Robertson, Kittel, Colin Brown, Vincent o Vine. Desde luego he descubierto que este análisis léxico es el siervo, no el rey, de la exégesis neotestamentaria. El griego nos permite que veamos cómo el texto está estructurado, cómo se incluye la retórica, cómo las construcciones sintácticas son las claves hermenéuticas, entre otras cosas.

11. El griego puede causar que pierda su fe. Le sucedió a un famoso profesor del Nuevo Testamento en los Estados Unidos, cuando él descubrió que había variantes textuales en el Nuevo Testamento Griego, y le puede pasar a usted. Cuando el texto de la Escritura llega a ser nada más que “otro dato analizable de interpretación lingüística,” desde entonces pierde su poder como la Palabra de Dios. Esto es lo que me emociona tanto de mis alumnos de griego en el seminario, la mayoría de los cuales tiene muchas ganas de colocar todo su aprendizaje a los pies de Jesús, en servicio humilde dentro de su reino.

12. Uno puede aprender griego en un ambiente informal. La verdad es que uno no tiene que tomar una clase formal de este tema ni de cualquier otro. Conozco a montones de estudiantes que estudian en casa y usan mi texto de manera autodidacta, muchos de ellos también usan mis DVD a la vez.

13. El griego no es griego. En otras palabras, el griego moderno y el griego koiné son dos idiomas bastante diferentes. Entonces, no crea que podría ordenar comida en Atenas solamente porque ha tomado un año de griego koiné. Por otro lado, una vez que haya dominado elkoiné, es relativamente fácil aprender el clásico y el moderno.

May 17, 2014

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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The Church No One Wanted To Join

 David Alan Black 

“But no one dared join himself to them” (Acts 5:13a).

How strange these words sound today! And they are strange-sounding because the concept is so foreign to us.

Whereas many of our churches will do practically anything to draw unbelievers to their services, the earliest Christians were so committed and so radical that few if any unbelievers dared join them. In New Testament times the early disciples came together not for evangelism or even for worship but for teaching, for fellowship, for the Breaking of Bread, and for times of prayer (Acts 2:42). The Lord’s Supper was not an addendum celebrated quarterly or monthly but the main reason the church assembled on the Lord’s Day (Acts 20:7). Jesus was front-and-center, not a pulpit.

“Church” did not mean a state-of-the-art building with all the latest gadgetry. It meant a company of committed believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who met regularly (at least weekly) in homes or perhaps small rented rooms where a committed family spirit could develop. To reach outsiders they took the Gospel to them – a riverside (Acts 16:13), a marketplace (Acts 17:17), a school hall (Acts 19:9). Because expenses were kept to a minimum, funds could be used to support the poor and, when necessary, their teachers (Acts 11:29; Phil. 4:16). Each believer was taught to exercise his or her own spiritual gift (1 Cor. 12) in a spirit of love (1 Cor. 13). When the Body gathered, its goal was that of strengthening itself and building itself up in love (1 Cor. 14:26).

Because every believer was a priest and minister there was no need for an officiating “clergy.” Those who had been appointed by the Holy Spirit as pastors (Acts 20:28) became elders and teachers (Eph. 4:11), guides and leaders (1 Thess. 5:12-13). But their Senior Pastor was none other than Jesus Himself, in whose name they gathered. It was by devotion to Him and not to any human leader that they were held together. How unlike the guilds of the day!

The early church had little of the glitz and glamour of its modern counterpart. Few of its member were from the upper crust of society. It exercised discipline on its members. It preached Jesus as Lord, not as a benevolent butler. It called for total allegiance even when that went against the ruling authorities. Its power, passion, and purity was a flaming sword that guarded the way to the tree of life (cf. Gen. 3:24).

Today we announce “services as usual” but the situation is more desperate than that. While the modern church seeks medals, the early Christians wore scars. Being true to God did not put them at the top of the ladder but at the bottom rung. Little wonder “no one dared join himself to them.”

June 7, 2006

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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D-Day and the Limitations of Liberty

 David Alan Black

“All things are lawful for me” (1 Corinthians 10:23).

Today is the anniversary of D-Day—a date commemorating liberty. There’s a great deal of discussion today over whether a Christian can be a libertarian. The answer, it seems to me, depends on the definition. If by “liberty” we mean “license” to do whatever we please, then the answer is no.

“All things are lawful for me” was the slogan of the careless Christian. He thought being a believer gave him liberty to do as he pleases. In one sense, of course, he was right, for the law of the Spirit had made him free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). But this liberty is not license.

Each time the sloganeer parrots his “All things are lawful for me,” Paul answers with a qualifying “but.” (1) “But not all things are expedient.” This is the test of expediency. Some things, though innocent enough in and of themselves, hinder my running well the race set before me. I will therefore discard what delays me. (2) “But I will not be brought under the power of any.” This is the test of enslavement. The avocation easily becomes an obsession. I will therefore not be enslaved by what I allow. (3) “But all things edify not.” This is the test of edification. Not everything builds me up in the faith. I must therefore build with gold, silver, and precious stones and not with wood, hay, and stubble.

My favorite verse in Galatians is 5:1. It is, in fact, the theme verse of the entire epistle: “Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be ye not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Let us stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made us free. But let us also remember that we are never free to do what is wrong. If the situation in our lives clears the three hurdles set forth by Paul, we may go ahead. But if there is any doubt, let us forsake that path altogether!

June 6, 2003

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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Ethiopian Spring (May 2006): Part Two

 BeckyLynn Black 

As mentioned in our first report, there were three objectives for this trip. As a representative of the Lord’s church in America, I went carrying gifts from His people in America to His people in Ethiopia. The Apostle Paul carried the gifts of the believers on foot; 2000 years later, we carry the gifts by airplane. These gifts included monetary funds, which were exchanged at the best possible rate and deposited into a safe account for the purchase of Bibles and for the building of churches.

A total of over $26,000 was sent with us for His work, and a stewardship record has already been sent to those who have given. Also, some of you sent seeds, bracelets, clothes, ladies scarves, bookmarkers, protein bars, eyeglasses, and vitamins. All of these were distributed personally by us to the people who will be using them, or else to the church leaders closest to the people who will use them. We have tried to remove as many layers as possible of “bureaucracy” between the giver and the receiver.

Many of the seeds (such as okra, zucchini, and yellow squash) had never been seen before, but the Ethiopians are excited to try something new. The bracelets, scarves, and bookmarkers were given to those attending our teaching sessions, as a reminder of the subject matter.  The protein bars were given to 3 evangelists who work hard, but have no physical reserve. One of these evangelists commented to me, “I couldn’t understand why I got so weak the last time I was sick.” In the past, these protein bars have made a tremendous difference in their physical strength within just a few short months. There are no protein bars in Ethiopia. The vitamins were given to rural church leaders to distribute to pregnant women who also have at least 3 children at home. And the eyeglasses were divided between the Alaba and Burji districts, for the leaders to distribute after testing the people.

Left: Women showing off their new bracelets after attending a women’s class at 5:00am! Right: We took about 400 pairs of eyeglasses, and didn’t have to pay any customs fee!

One of the greatest joys of the trip was the opportunity to visit the first church “we” have built in the rural Alaba district. (When I say “we,” I mean you, us, the Alaba believers, and our Lord Jesus.)  In report #6 of our last trip, we shared with you how God has put in our hearts the desire to assist the believers in rural Alaba in erecting their church buildings. Each building costs $2,250, which is far beyond the reach of these people. The persecution is so strong that they quickly become impoverished the moment they name our Lord Jesus as their Saviour. But they are eager to work. So we are gathering funds to buy the materials, and they are doing the labor.

There are 9 churches needing to be built. As I write this, the church leaders are securing the legal status of the lands. The first church completed is called Galeo. It sits on a mountainside overlooking the Alaba Valley. As we approached it, the leaders said, “Look, you can see it already!” And sure enough, there it was, glimmering in the sunshine, its cross clearly evident, proclaiming to all, “This Valley belongs to our Lord Jesus!” What a joyous sight! We drove in a Land Cruiser as far as we could, then we got out and hiked up the mountainside. We paused every few hundred yards, still adjusting to the high altitude, but we eventually made it. The building was a simple rectangle, with space for several windows and two doors. The windows and doors will be of solid wood.  There is no electricity; the floor is mud. The roof is corrugated tin. The walls are made from timbers manually hauled from a nearby forest and mud/straw “stucco.” The foundation is from purchased concrete, sand pulled out of the river, and stones obtained from the fields. One of the leaders donated the land. As you can see, this church stands as an example of the Lord’s people working together for His glory and His witness.

After a hike, we arrived at Galeo church on the mountainside overlooking the Alaba Valley. We paused in the building for a picture with Girma (Memory Program coordinator),  the Galeo church leaders, and BeckyLynn.

Eating Kolo and drinking coffee beside the church, then a time of prayer and thanksgiving. We asked our God to give us the Alaba Valley as an inheritance in the Kingdom of our Lord.

The second church to be built is called Bedene. I met with one of the leaders of this church for about an hour over breakfast, as he quickly told me the story of his conversion. His name is Kadir. He had been a strong fundamentalist Muslim, highly dedicated to the beliefs of Islam. Coming out of Koran school one day he spotted a young lady. He went to talk with her and then declared, “By the name of Allah, you will be my wife.” She promptly retorted, “By the name of Jesus, NEVER!” To make a long story short, he kidnapped her, forcing the marriage. She refused to leave Jesus, despite his beatings.  After about 2 years, he was lifting his face from the earth during his prayer ritual, and a person in shining light said to him, “To whom are you praying? I am the One who made you.” He knew immediately that this person was Jesus. But he resisted the claim of Jesus on his life. The story of his eventual conversion is amazing! I wish you could have been with me as he was telling me. Such animation! Such drama! What a wondrous story of grace and redemption! Let me tell you, NO ONE is beyond the grace of our Lord Jesus!!!  Absolutely no one! (My father and several others have told me that I need to write a book with some of these stories; please pray for me as I consider this.)

Another great blessing was visiting Hajji Mohammed. We reported our first visit to his home in Report #5b, and on subsequent blogs we’ve kept you up-to-date on the continued persecution of this dear brother. In the 5 months since our last visit the enemies have tried to bomb his home, have attacked his wife, have stolen his crop, and now have filed false charges of cattle thievery against him. Also, his young son died of amebic dysentery complicated by the attack. The Muslim leaders have decided that this man is “the ringleader” of those converting to Christ, so they are determined to make him an example! We sat for 3 or 4 hours in the yard of his home, sharing with him various things. I gave him a blanket that had a flying eagle on it, explaining that this had reminded me of him and of the verse, “Those that wait upon the Lord… shall rise up with wings as eagles” (Isa. 40:31).  I also encouraged him with Romans 8:28-39: NOTHING can separate us from the Love of our Lord Jesus. And I told him that I was praying for three things: that he would be strong spiritually, that he would remember he is not alone, and that he would forgive those who persecute him. (This is the example of our Saviour Himself who was persecuted to the point of death, remaining faithful for our benefit, and forgiving his enemies.)

You remember that when Hajji Mohammed was converted, Jesus told him to “come out of the cave, and bring others with you.”  In January, I had asked him how many he had brought out of the cave, and he responded “17,” meaning 17 heads of households. This time, I asked again and he replied, “23.” So in the 5 months since I have seen him last, despite the persecution, he has lead another 6 heads of households to our Lord Jesus for salvation. In fact, as I was talking with him, a man walked into our midst; from his dress he was obviously Muslim. At the moment I was explaining the Bible Memory program, encouraging Hajji Mohammed and his little flock to memorize the Scriptures so that they could have their own Bible. But in the presence of this man I didn’t know if I should continue. Hajji Mohammed seemed entirely unflustered by the entrance of this man, so I continued. Later, the man gave his testimony; he had converted to Jesus only 2 weeks earlier, because he had watched the response of Hajji Mohammed to the persecution. He had never seen such peace and strength! The man has chosen to keep his conversion quiet because he doesn’t want the persecution. Please pray for him and the others that have been brought “out of the cave.”

Incidentally, in the midst of all the persecution these past 5 months, Hajji Mohammed had another baby son born to him! Do you know what he named the child? Immanuel: “God is with us!” What a testimony of faith! How blessed we are to be allowed to participate with him in the work of the Gospel!

We brought 2 suitcases of love gifts for Hajji Mohammed and his little flock. Right: Hajji Mohammed, a new believer, and Nathan.

Read Ethiopian Spring (May 2006): Part One.

This report has been prepared by BeckyLynn (Lapsley) Black

Mailing address: Bradford Hall, 2691 White House Rd., Nelson, VA 24580.                              Phone: 434-374-0492.                                                                                                              Email: dblack@sebts.edu.                                                                                                       Website: www.daveblackonline.com

If our Lord wants you to become involved with us in Ethiopia, please make your check payable to BeckyLynn Black. No tax-deductible receipt will be given, but a sincere thank-you note will be sent. 100- of your gift goes directly to the Lord’s church in Ethiopia. We pay our own expenses and we do not deduct for “administrative costs.” May our Lord bless you for your kindnesses to us and our brethren in Ethiopia.

June 22, 2006

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“¡Dios No Me Hizo Para Sufrir!”

Parte 1

Becky Lynn Black  

El otoño pasado, estas palabras venían de un joven hombre Etíope. Nosotros estábamos sentados  en la parte frontal en frente del cuarto. El había estado trabajando fuerte en la iglesia, y la Vida no había sido fácil como él había esperado que fuera. Su corazón estaba lleno de amargura, enojo, decepción; él  se sintió traicionado por otros y por Dios.

En los meses siguientes, decidí estudiar las escrituras sobre el tema del sufrimiento. Yo no tenía la idea de que Dios traería el cáncer a mí, y que yo me referiría a mi propia investigación tan rápidamente.

Allí hay voces  afuera que dicen: “Si usted pertenece a Jesús, entonces usted debería esperar una de vida de comodidades, aun el lujo. Después de todo, Dios  se deleita  por dar cosas buenas a Sus hijos y tu eres un hijo del Rey.”

Esto es un Evangelio falso y una doctrina incorrecta. Los que aconsejan y dan clases por estas líneas han excluido de sus Biblias la parte principal de la vida de Pablo, aun de la vida de Jesús, y casi todo el libro de hechos y de los profetas del Antiguo Testamento. ¿De dónde toman ellos esta idea? Es una mezcla del Sueño Americano, sus propios deseos  para un prospero  “ministerio” (las personas envían su dinero a predicadores quienes les dice lo que ellos quieren oír), y unos versos aislados sacados de contexto. Esto  no es seguramente el mensaje de toda las  Escrituras.

Lo que ensena las Escrituras es la verdad. La verdad no se cambia de cultura a cultura, de generación a generación o de continente a continente. Es eterno. Esto no es una moda que viene y va. Es no un nuevo modo de pensar que alguna persona prominente promueve en los programas de television! La Verdad está asentada  profundamente en el corazón de Dios mismo.

Y es por eso que es absolutamente esencial que nosotros conozcamos la Verdad, que estudiamos en las Escrituras bajo la tutela del Espíritu Santo, tomando toda la Escritura (no un verso aquí y otro verso allá como nos conviene). No debemos estar satisfechos por ser alimentados por otras personas, quienes están sujetos al error. No es suficiente sentarse durante una hora en el servicio del domingo y escuchar 20 minutos de predicación. Esto es una dieta espiritual para morir de hambre. Esto no hará nada para hacernos espiritualmente fuertes para el tiempo en el que tengas tensión que invariablemente entraran en cada una de nuestras vidas.

Debemos agarrarnos con las Escrituras nosotros mismos…leyendo, estudiando, meditando, digiriendo…. mirando siempre a la cara de nuestro Maestro,  el Espíritu Santo.

¿Cómo podemos vernos en la cara del Maestro? Solamente si estamos limpios en nuestro espíritu. El no puede tolerar el pecado. El no puede mirar el pecado. Si tenemos el pecado en nosotros, conociendo y no conociendo, entonces él se apartara de nosotros.

¿Como posiblemente podemos librarnos de nuestros pecados?  Hay un solo camino: la confesión de nuestros pecados y tomar nuestras vidas bajo la sangre de Jesús.

¡Qué verdad es esta! Confesión de nuestros pecados es más que simplemente el nombramiento de los pecados; esto admite, abiertamente y honestamente el reconocimiento  de nuestra disposición hacia todo lo que está contra Dios Santo. Nuestros pensamientos, nuestros deseos, nuestros sueños, aun nuestros “buenos trabajos” tienen esta raya de egoísmo en ellos, están inclinados hacia la independencia, esta obstinación del espíritu.

Nosotros podemos confesar el uno al otro o a un religioso profesional…. ¿Pero qué es lo bueno en esto? ¡La otra persona está en el mismo barco que nosotros! Es como dos personas que están en un bote salvavidas, y uno confiesa al otro, “Estoy perdido. Voy a morir”. La acción de expresar puede aliviar la conciencia a lo mas diminuto, pero el valor de esta es poco.

No debemos de confesar nuestros pecados a Alguien quien puede hacer algo igual; debemos confesar esto a nuestro Señor Jesús.

Y él ha dicho: “El que viene a mí, Yo le prometo, No le echare afuera”.

¡Qué alivio! ¡Qué  comodidad! El no solamente no nos echa afuera, y el no solicita o exige un pago por sus servicios de confesión…pero él se extiende sobre nosotros, cubriendo nuestros pecados con Su propio cuerpo santo, como El cubrió el pecado del primer hombre y la mujer con el cordero que fue muerto por ellos. En el momento adecuado de la historia, Jesús dejo el cielo como Dios y se hizo hombre…el resultado fue una persona en la historia del mundo quien es Dios-Hombre, capaz de ser el mediador entre Dios Santo y el hombre pecaminoso.

“Hay un solo Dios, y un solo mediador entre Dios y el hombre, el Hombre de Cristo Jesús.” Cuando hay una crisis internacional, no podemos enviar solamente a algiuen viejo ciudadano americano para representar nuestro gobierno en negociaciones. Solo la palabra de un Embajador  que tiene la autoridad de nuestro gobierno. Entonces esta es una relación con Dios. No podemos enviar a una persona anciana para tratar con El; solo debemos enviar al Señor Jesús. Solamente el es Santo lo suficiente para ser aceptado por Dios, Jesús se hizo hombre, de modo que  como un hombre santo pudiera representar a un hombre pecaminoso. Y como un hombre santo, él se ofreció a sí mismo para “negociar” nuestra liberación espiritual del pecado. El tomo nuestros pecados sobre él, y murió en nuestro lugar la muerte de un criminal… el Justo por los injustos, el Libre de pecados por los pecadores, el Perfecto por los imperfectos.

Y en el cubriendanos, nuestros pecados son quitados de la vista de Dios Santo que quiere ensenarnos las Escrituras, quiere una relación intimidad y personal con nosotros, quiere curarnos espiritualmente, emocionalmente, y físicamente.

Entonces, antes de que nosotros podamos saber la Verdad, debemos tener un profesor de la Verdad… El Espíritu Santo…y antes de que podamos tener al Profesor, debemos tener nuestros pecados cubiertos por la persona del Señor Jesús.

Solo entonces así  nosotros podremos entender el sufrimiento en la Vida.

(Lecturas recomendadas: 1 Juan 1:3-10, Juan 6:35-40; Juan 3: 13-21; 1 Timoteo 2:5-6, Romanos 5:1-21, 2 Corintios 5:14-21, Romanos 10:8-17.)

(Parte  2 continuara pronto)

February 13, 2010

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