The Italian Memorandum

I. The Greek Classical View of Heaven (Acts 14:8-18)

A. “The word always has a double reference” (Kittel, 497).

1. Cosmological sense (starry heavens)

2. Theological view (habitation of the gods/myth)

=>”The gods have come down to us” (Acts 14:11)

B. Ouranos meant both physical and metaphysical in Greek culture, and eventually came to denote by the New Testament period a guiding principle (as astrology in the Roman World). This concept of heaven became a flurry of philosophical activity from Homer, Pythagoras, Aristotle, and Plato, and others. In fact, Plato taught that heaven (ouranos) was the starting point for absolute knowledge (Phaedrus, 247b).

II. Old Testament/shamayim

A. shamayim is identified with raqia (Gen. 1:6-8)

B. a place of fixed references (Gen. 1:14; Ps. 119:89)

C. The Bethel Story and the dwelling place of God (Gen. 28)

D. The God of heaven formula (Deut. 26:15; 32:40; Ex. 9:29,33)

E. Source of all blessing (Gen. 49:25; Deut. 33:13; 1 Ki. 8:35)

F. Especially salvation-history (Dan. 7:17)

III. New Testament/ouranos

A. Jn. 3:9-12; 6:33 Jesus’ source

B. Acts 1:9-11; 2:34 Jesus will come again

C. 2 Cor. 5:1-9 Heaven holds all to me

D. Eph. 1:3 etc. The Christian’s position

Robert M. Housby

“The heavens are the Lord’s heavens,

but the earth he has given to the children of man”

(Psalm 115:16)

“…he has put eternity into man’s heart…”

(Ecclesiastes 3:11)

The Old Testament provides the biblical background for the Christian doctrine of heaven. It is through the Old Testament writings that we read about shamayim, translated “heaven.” A close synonym of shamayim is raqia (Psalm 148:4); raqia, being the more specific term, and shamayim the more comprehensive terminology.

In our presentation (06-08-08), we made three points about heaven:

1. Your deepest reality is that you were meant for heaven and are known as eternal in God’s eyes (2 Cor. 5:1-8).

2. Heaven is expressed in symbolism in the Scriptures (Jn. 3:12,13; Rev. 1:1-2;4:1-2). Crowns; harps, and gold (Rev. 2:10; 14:2; 21:18,21) mean something beyond themselves: victory; joy; festivity (1 Cor. 9:25,27); calming, infinity, ecstasy (1 Sam. 16:14-23); preciousness and timelessness.

3. Revelation 4 and 5 express the relevance of heaven in creation and redemption, respectively.

-Robert M. Housby

“Awake, O sleeper,

and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you”

(Ephesians 5:14)

It is plain from the quotation of Ephesians 5:14 that Paul is drawing from the Old Testament theme of personal awakening, among the Lord’s people.  This theme is especially represented in Isaiah.  Isaiah 51:9 reads-“Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the days of old, the generations of long ago…” Isaiah 51:17 reads, “Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath…” Isaiah 52:1-2 says-“Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion…Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion…” Isaiah 26:19 is also to be studied in this vein-“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.  You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!”

“Church History” speaks of “Four Great Awakenings in American History;” the essential characteristic of which is a definite rise in religious interest.

1.    1730s-40s          3.    1880-1900

2.    1800 -1830        4.    1960-1970

May your own life be awakened to the love of God in Christ and the Holy Spirit (Romans 13:11)!  Paul had much more in mind than L-dopa.

-Robert M. Housby

“And the common people heard him gladly”

(Mark 12:37)

Mark 12:37 is translated in the American Standard Version (1901)-“And the common people heard him gladly.” Warrant for translating the crowd as “the common people” is based largely upon the use of the definite article, “the,” in the Greek text (W.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, 213).  Furthermore, the American Standard Version even translates John 12:9-“The common people therefore of the Jews…,” where the article is absent.  While John 12:12 has “the common people” in the margin (ASV).    While not all of the scribes were equally bad (see Mark 12:28,34), the general tendency of their professional religious circle had degenerated into ostentation, avarice, and hypocrisy (C.E. Graham Swift, The New Bible Commentary Revised, ed. Donald Guthrie, 878).  Still, we must not rush to conclude that there were no individuals of upper-class drawn to Christ, both during and after his life (John 3:1; Lk. 1:3; Acts 6:7).  These common people, however, nearly all consented to his death when put under pressure (“and the crowd…”Mark 15:8,11).

The backdrop of the Sermon on the Mount remains a shining moment in the life of Christ when “the crowd” followed him with eagerness and hung on his every word (Matt. 4:25; 5:1).  Jesus was a prophet who pronounced blessing upon the common people; and, he did so in such a way that it is written of his style, “no man ever spoke like this Man!” (John 7:46).

-Robert M. Housby

The following outline includes material that brother David Young
Presented May 14, 2008 at the Cape Girardeau Church of Christ.

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”

(Joshua 24:15)

Introduction:    Joshua’s final words to the Lord’s people after the Exodus out of Egypt and Settlement in the Promised Land, were meant to pass on the torch of faith to future generations (Josh. 24:14-15).

I. Choices Do Exist (Joshua 24)

A. “the Lord” (24:14,15)
B. “gods that your fathers served beyond the River” (24:14)
C. “gods that your fathers served in Egypt” (24:14)
D. “gods of the Amorites” (24:15)

II. The Promised Land and the tendency toward Generational Degeneration (Judges 2)

A. Joshua dies (2:6-9)
B. Joshua’s generation dies (2:10a)
C. The next generation (2:10b-15)
D. Examples of Torch Passers:

1. 1st generation – A Strong hard back chair (faith fighters)
2. 2nd generation – A LA-Z-BOY recliner (faith feigners)
3. 3rd generation – A floppy lattice chair (faith-less)

Conclusion:   Have we taken care to pass on the torch of faith? Will Joshua 24:15 reflect your own commitment from this day forward? Are you first chair or second? The choice is yours.

“…singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart…”

(Ephesians 5:19)

Notes from a presentation by Robert M. Housby, April 20, 2008 during the P.M. assembly, Cape Girardeau, Missouri church of Christ. This message was delivered from within the context of the Letter to the Hebrews

Introduction: Frequently, someone from one of the denominations asks, “Why don’t you use music?” What they mean is, why doesn’t your church use a piano, organ, or some other form of mechanical music in worship? The following is a scriptural response for those who seriously desire to know.

I. Christ qualifies us to worship; it is a privilege (Hebrews 9:11-14)

A. only in covenant relationship (Hebrews 9:15)
B. and, only according to the covenant (define: covenant and authorization)

1. Hebrews 12:28 – acceptable worship
2. Hebrews 13:21 – that is, according to “his will”
a. pleasing him (Heb. 11:6)
b. not necessarily pleasing us (though certainly possibly; Heb. 10:7)
3. Hebrews 13:15 – singing is endorsed worship (see also 2:12!)

II. If God orders worship (and he does, Heb. 9:1) then, not everything that is offered to God as worship is acceptable worship (Hebrews 12:28= principle; 11:4 = example). Either all worship is acceptable; No worship is acceptable; or, Some worship is acceptable. The latter is most certainly preferred.

III. The Hebrew writer is concerned about reverting back to the Old Testament as religious authority, and earthly forms of worship (Heb. 8:8,9,10; 10:28-39; 10:9!)

Conclusion:   Since mechanical music as worship is first traceable, at large, to the period of Pope Vitelian (about 650 A.D.; see Schaff’s Church History, Vol. 4, p. 439), and singing is authorized Christian worship, let us proceed in faith by pleasing God according to his will (see Hebrews 13:20-21; 15-16; 2:12).

“Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself”

(Hebrews 9:26, NIV)

William R. Newell said of Hebrews 9:26, “All previous ages led up to this; all succeeding ages are governed by this!” (Hebrews Verse by Verse, p. 323). Edward Fudge wrote concerning 9:26, “The singularity of Christ’s offering is expressed here in three ways. It is once for all; it is the consummation of the ages; and, it is to abolish sin. If sin is abolished, there is no need for another sacrifice. If the consummation of the ages has come, there is no time for another. And, if Christ’s offering is once for all, there can be no other” (Our Man in Heaven: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, pp. 101-02).

Johannes Schneider, former professor of New Testament at Berlin University during the Nazis surge (1933-39), said about 9:26—“ [This] section shows the three great perspectives by which the Church of Christ has oriented herself in all times. It calls attention to the finished work of redemption; the present reality of redemption; and the promised future realization of redemption. Before her spiritual eye stands the crucified Christ, the eternal high priest, and the coming Savior” (The Letter to the Hebrews, p. 91).

Not only has Christ died, he died for you.

– Robert M. Housby

[A sermon about proselytes will be delivered in May, 2008]

“Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Baranbas, who, speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God”

(Acts 13:43)

The term “proselyte” or “proselytes” may be found once in the Gospels (Matthew 23:15) and three times in Acts (2:10; 6:5; and, 13:43); for a total of four references. The Greek term for proselyte is used in each of these references. A working definition of a proselyte is—“a convert from one religious belief or party to another” (Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, p.881). Perhaps, the greatest Jewish example of a proselyte is in Ruth, the Moabitess (see Ruth 1:16-17).

There appear to be two kinds of proselytes during New Testament times. The first group are sometimes referred to as “proselytes of the gate;” the second group, “proselytes of righteousness.” The difference between the two groups are degrees of commitment. Proselytes of the Gate seem to have preferred the monotheism and high ethics of Judaism in stark contrast with their former idolatrous heathen backgrounds. Proselytes of Righteousness, on the other hand, wholeheartedly accepted all of the Judaic commands, including circumcision. The Law of Moses did make reference to Gentiles who would come to embrace Judaism (Ex. 20:10; Deut. 5:14). The meaning of the English “proselyte” (proselytos) derives from proserchomai, meaning “to come unto.”

In this sense, therefore, both Jewish proselytes and Christians are Messiah focused (Matt. 11:28); God-fearing (Acts 13:16); and, resident aliens (1 Pet. 2:11).

– Robert M. Housby

“If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac,
had not been on my side…”

(Genesis 31:42)

E. Stanley Jones sees in Genesis 31:42 a generational progression away from God. “The thing that has happened to this generation has happened to the three generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob could say, “my father’s God, the God of Abraham, the Awe of Isaac” (Genesis 31:42, Moffatt). God was God to Abraham; he had ventured forth with him, his “Friend”; He was intimate firsthand and real. But in the next generation God was not “the God of Isaac,” but only the Awe of Isaac.” He had faded and become secondhand. Still Isaac stood in “Awe” of his father’s God. In the third generation—in Jacob—the result of this gradual fading of God began to shown in the decaying morals of Jacob; moral rottenness appeared. He stole his brother’s birthright. He was ready to take the main chance without regard to God.

Jones goes on to say that we also, like Jacob, often involve ourselves in a secondhand type of faith. “We have lost God…[but] Jacob met God on Jabbok’s banks in his midnight wrestle and emerged a new man. Unless we, like Jacob, find a moral renewal in finding God [afresh, RMH], we are done for” (“God Fading Out,” Abundant Living (New York: Abingdon Press, 1952), p. 3).

Still, God was on Jacob’s side. But, things were scary for a time. Will you yourself find God afresh in your own life? Can you say this is “the Lord my God”?

– Robert M. Housby

“Will you not tell it today?”

(Jesse Browns Pounds, Will You Not Tell It Today?, 1887)

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord”

(2 Timothy 1:8)

Milton wrote “Lycidas” in 1637. The poem contains an event that would forever change him. Edward King, for whom the poem is about, was Milton’s learned friend who had drowned in his passage from Chester on the Irish Seas. “Lycidas” has been called the high-water mark of English poetry in the form of elegy—the lament and praise for the dead. In. the first portion of the poem, Milton memorializes his dead schoolfellow. Then, in each of the three movements thereafter we find a pagan lament beginning each section, and a Christian triumph. ending these sections. Line 10 reads: “Who would not sing for Lycidas?” John Milton had a Christian heart; a Christian friend; and, now, a Christian sadness coupled with hope.

This English poem calls to mind our own allegiance to the Lord Jesus. The gospel, itself, is both a lament and a triumph. The apostle Paul reminds us regarding the communion—“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). This theme of lament and triumph is also contained in an early Christian hymn of 1 Timothy 3:16: “He was manifested in the flesh, / vindicated by the Spirit, / seen by angels, / proclaimed among the nations, / believed on in the world, / taken up in glory.”

Who would not sing for Jesus? Will you not tell it today?

-Robert M. Housby