William Tyndale: A Bible for the People

by Robyn Page
Link

In the autumn of 1535, the English Bible translator William Tyndale awaited his fate in Vilvoorde Castle near Brussels. Charged with heresy by the Roman Catholic authorities, he was ill, cold and alone in his cell.

During his life he had translated the New Testament and Pentateuch into English, giving England its first translation from the original languages. (Wycliffe’s earlier English translation had been from Latin). But Tyndale still had work to do: the rest of the Old Testament lay ahead. So he wrote a letter to the prison governor requesting his Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar books and a Hebrew dictionary, as well as warmer clothing to help him endure the coming winter. Perhaps understanding the futility of his request but trusting in the God he had come to know through translating His words, Tyndale concluded his letter: “But if any other decision has been taken concerning me, ... I will be patient, abiding the will of God....”

Tyndale grew up with an understanding of the need for a Bible printed in English. He was born around 1494 in Gloucestershire, a county long associated with the Lollards, who preached from Wycliffite Bibles that had been laboriously copied by hand. This gave him a perspective that most of England missed. All other religious services were conducted in Latin, though few, including the priests, understood the language. The Latin Bible itself was a cumbersome volume seen only occasionally in the nation’s churches.

While attending Oxford University, Tyndale became skilled in Greek and Latin and, through Desiderius Erasmus’s Novum Instrumentum, gained access to the Greek New Testament. The Dutch humanist and theologian had written the work in an effort to correct the Latin Vulgate’s many errors. His was the first Latin translation of the Greek New Testament in over a thousand years. Printed in parallel columns of Greek and Latin, the new Latin version caused outrage in conservative circles, but access to the Greek gave Tyndale the start he needed to make his English translation.

Several years later, however, Tyndale’s skill with the Scriptures would lead to accusations of heresy, though these were never proved. An incident recorded by the historian John Foxe in his Acts and Monuments (known today as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs ) strengthened Tyndale’s commitment to give the English people a Bible they could finally understand. Foxe relates that a learned man told Tyndale, “We were better to be without God’s law than the pope’s.” Tyndale replied, “I defy the pope, and all his laws,” and added that “if God spared [Tyndale] life, ere many years he would cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than [the pope] did.”

Sometime in the summer of 1523 Tyndale approached the Bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall. Armed with his translation of a speech by Isocrates, a Greek orator of the fourth century B.C., Tyndale presented proof of his readiness to render the Greek New Testament into English. Although Tunstall was a friend of Erasmus and would have recognized Tyndale’s abilities as a translator, he refused the request. Realizing that he would not be able to undertake his translation in England, Tyndale sailed to Germany, never to return.

After narrowly avoiding capture in Cologne during the early stages of the printing of his first New Testament, Tyndale managed to complete a large print run in Worms in 1526. The pocket-sized New Testaments had to be smuggled into England, where they were sold openly to eager buyers. Furious, Bishop Tunstall burned all the copies he could trace and arranged for his representatives to buy up translations before they left the Continent. Ironically, this served to fund Tyndale’s subsequent translation and revision efforts, and the flood of English New Testaments continued unabated.

In addition to his translations of the Bible, Tyndale wrote several books including The Obedience of a Christian Man, The Parable of the Wicked Mammon and The Practice of Prelates. Although written to contradict the allegations against him, the books further angered his enemies, especially the English statesman Sir Thomas More. More privately admired Tyndale’s translations, but he nevertheless considered him a heretic who had to be destroyed. Calling him a “hell-hound in the kennel of the devil” and “a new Judas,” More said that in translating the New Testament into English, Tyndale was “discharging a filthy foam of blasphemies out of his brutish, beastly mouth.”

Foxe records that shortly after Tyndale started translating the Old Testament into English, he headed for Hamburg to print the book of Deuteronomy, but was shipwrecked. He lost everything, including copies of his manuscript, and had to start afresh. With the help of another English translator, Miles Coverdale, he published his Pentateuch in early 1530. Hebrew was virtually unknown in England—Tyndale apparently learned it in Germany—so with his Old Testament work, the English were able for the first time ever to read English translated from Hebrew.

Tyndale published a revision of his magnum opus, his New Testament translation, in 1534. Printed again in pocket size, this was the first translation to have his name on the title page. In the prologue he acknowledged the delay in production but assured his readers that he had done the most careful job possible: “I have looked over [it] again . . . with all diligence, and compared it unto the Greek, and have weeded out of it many faults, which lack of help at the beginning, and oversight, did sow therein.”

Shortly after publication of the revised New Testament, Tyndale was betrayed to the authorities in Brussels and imprisoned for 16 months. On or about October 6, 1536, after all attempts to secure his release had failed, he was strangled to death at the stake and his body burned. Foxe records that before he died, Tyndale cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! open the king of England’s eyes.”

His prayer appears to have been answered within a matter of months. Shortly after Tyndale’s death, King Henry VIII licensed the first official English Bible. Published in 1537 and named “Matthew’s Bible,” it was prepared by Tyndale’s friend, John Rogers, and included Tyndale’s final revision of his 1534 New Testament, the 1534 Pentateuch and his Old Testament work up to the book of Chronicles. The remainder of the Matthew’s Bible’s Old Testament was edited from Coverdale’s English Bible. (Coverdale, apparently unbeknownst to Tyndale, had printed the first complete English Bible in 1535, working primarily from the Latin Vulgate.) Between the two Testaments in the Matthew’s Bible, the large ornamental initials WT silently attest to Tyndale’s remarkable contribution.

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John Wycliffe: Setting the Stage for Reform

by Donna Butler and David F. Lloyd

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John Wycliffe was one of those exceptional individuals who seem to have been born before their time. A brilliant and courageous cleric and scholar, he became known as “the morning star of the Reformation.”

Wycliffe is mainly remembered for producing the first Bible in English, though recent scholarship suggests that he was not the actual translator but rather the inspiration and figurehead for that dangerous and secretive undertaking. Mystery still surrounds the sudden appearance of numerous hand-copied Bibles among a population who previously had been held in scriptural illiteracy by a church jealous of its influence, power, wealth and privileges.

Most authorities cite 1324 as the date of Wycliffe’s birth. He was born in Yorkshire, England, but little is known about his life before he entered Oxford. Wycliffe became a fellow of Merton College and, in about 1360, Master of Balliol College. By this time he had a reputation as an outstanding theologian and philosopher at the university and was a principal speaker at theological debates. In 1361 he was appointed vicar of the parish of Fillingham and later rector of Lutterworth.

Remarkably for his day, Wycliffe regarded the Bible as a living and authoritative book. He saw and commented on the many discrepancies between the standards set by Scripture and the practices of the church. He gave a series of discourses on the whole Bible—something that was entirely new and revolutionary. He declared the Bible to be the highest authority for every Christian, and the standard of faith and human perfection.

Noting that the Bible said the gospel was to be given freely, Wycliffe attacked the money-grabbing and impoverishing practices of the medieval church. He criticized such unscriptural practices as prayers to saints, pilgrimages and the selling of indulgences. He also condemned confessions, images and celibacy. Decrying the feudal power of the church, he held that each person was directly responsible to God.

During this period, tensions between Rome and the English King Edward III were escalating. In 1374 Wycliffe was appointed to a royal commission created to resolve a number of the issues that had arisen. Many of the bishops on the commission accepted bribes of lucrative jobs, however, and the body failed in its role. Wycliffe, on the other hand, refused to be bribed. This gained him favor with parliament and the king’s fourth son, John of Gaunt, though not with the bishops.

In 1376 Wycliffe wrote On Civil Dominion, in which he said, “England belongs to no pope. The pope is but a man, subject to sin; but Christ is the Lord of lords, and this kingdom is held directly and solely of Christ alone.”

The treatise resulted in his being called to answer charges before a group of bishops at St. Paul’s Cathedral. He arrived in the company of two very powerful supporters: the marshal of England, Lord Percy, and John of Gaunt, who was administering the kingdom during Edward III’s terminal illness. When Percy presumed to tell Wycliffe he could be seated rather than stand during the proceedings, the bishops were so enraged that a riot broke out, disrupting the trial, and Wycliffe and his party escaped unharmed.

In 1378, shortly after the death of Edward III, Wycliffe wrote On the Truth of Holy Scripture, in which he stated his view that the Bible is without error and constitutes the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine.

That same year he was again summoned to appear on trial before the bishops. Shortly after the trial began, the proceedings were interrupted by the arrival of a message from the king’s widow asking that no verdict be brought against Wycliffe. The trial ended with the bishops simply telling him not to air his controversial opinions at the university or from the pulpit.

Three years later Wycliffe rejected the church’s teaching on transubstantiation in his treatise On the Eucharist, and he lost many of his supporters, including John of Gaunt. This was also the year of the Peasants’ Revolt, which Wycliffe was accused of inspiring. The following year a council of theologians decreed that his writings contained heresy, and parliament issued a bill condemning his teachings.

Perhaps because of his tremendous popularity, Wycliffe was not punished but allowed to retire to the rectory at Lutterworth. While there, he continued to write. He now spurned Latin, however, as the language used to hold his people in bondage, and began to write only in English. He believed that the common man should be able to read the Scriptures in his own language. Who actually penned the Wycliffe Bible is shrouded in some mystery, but two of Wycliffe’s followers, Nicholas Hereford and John Purvey, are the most likely candidates. The translation was made from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate rather than the original Greek and Hebrew, which were not well known in England at the time.

Wycliffe died from the effects of a stroke in 1384, but persecution of his followers continued. In 1401 a new law ordered that heretics be burned at the stake, and shortly afterward Archbishop Arundel declared that it was illegal even to read the English Bible. He decreed that no one should translate any part of the Bible into the English language nor read any of Wycliffe’s writings (or other writings of a similar nature), either publicly or privately. Anyone who defied these orders would be burned at the stake as a supporter of heresy.

Decades after his death, Wycliffe and his teachings were still perceived to be a threat by the church at Rome. Because he had escaped the prescribed punishment for heresy, he was tried a second time in 1415 and this time condemned. The Council of Constance ordered that his body be disinterred and burned. Pope Martin V approved the order, and the deed was carried out in 1428, approximately 44 years after Wycliffe’s death. His bones were burned in a field of execution and the ashes scattered in the River Swift near Lutterworth.

Wycliffe’s influence proved harder to destroy than his mortal remains, however. The Word of God had been savored by many English people and, in spite of a grim century of suppression that was to follow, the stage had been set for the great work of translation from the original languages that would be undertaken by William Tyndale.

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Theory of Evolution: A Theory in Crisis

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An Interview with Michael J. Denton

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Dragons or Dinosaurs: Creation or Evolution? (2010 Documentary HD)

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Evolution - The Grand Experiment - Part 1 with Dr. Carl Werner - Origins

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Darwinism On Trial (Phillip E. Johnson)

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Grande Paz

Palavras de Jesus
Link

“Ao cair da tarde daquele primeiro dia da semana, estando os discípulos reunidos a portas trancadas, por medo dos judeus, Jesus entrou, pôs-se no meio deles e disse: "Paz seja com vocês!"”—João 20:19[1]

A Minha paz é abrangente e incondicional. Se perder tudo, mas ganhar a Minha paz, você é rico.

Que isso lhe sirva de forte consolo, principalmente em relação a situações que fogem ao seu controle. Quando você se sente à mercê das circunstâncias, precisa exatamente da Minha paz, mesmo sentindo-se incapaz de recebê-la. Isso talvez aconteça porque você se apega a outras coisas, aos que lhe são queridos, às suas posses, e reputação.

O Meu desejo é ajudá-lo a dar preeminência à Minha paz, acima de tudo no mundo, reconhecê-la como um dom sobrenatural recebido por Meus seguidores pouco antes da Minha morte. A pessoa que sabe que em breve morrerá quer deixar algo de valor para os que ama. Por isso, no Meu “testamento”, Eu deixei a paz para os Meus discípulos e todos que Me seguem. Eu sabia que seria um dom difícil de receber, principalmente durante as adversidades. Por isso, depois da Minha ressurreição, as primeiras palavras proferidas para os Meus discípulos foram: “Deixo-lhes a paz!” Eles precisavam dessa certeza para reforçar o que lhes ensinei antes de partir. E você também precisa se lembrar da natureza divina dessa dádiva, pois a paz que lhe dou não é do mundo, mas sim a paz que sobrepassa todo o entendimento!

Apegar-se a outras coisas torna difícil para você aceitar esta preciosa dádiva. É como não querer largar uma pequena moeda quando estou lhe oferecendo provisão ilimitada e ouro puro. Para receber essa dádiva, você primeiro deve abrir as mãos e o coração para Mim. Ao fazer isso, você coloca todas as suas preocupações aos Meus cuidados. A nossa intimidade se fortalece conforme recebe a gloriosa paz que lhe dou, todas![2]


Paz na Minha presença

“Os que amam a tua lei desfrutam da paz, e nada há que os faça tropeçar.”—Salmo 119:165[3]

Eu serei seu fiel provedor, enquanto você busca diligentemente a Minha face e Me reconhece. Continuarei cuidando de você e o protegendo de danos e do mal. Suprirei e o socorrerei quando estiver em perigo. Eu o consolarei na tribulação e lhe darei paz em situações conflituosas. Eu lhe darei alegria no lugar de tristeza.

O céu e a terra passarão, mas as Minhas palavras não hão de passar. Eu nunca deixarei de cumprir Minhas promessas. Mas você precisa fazer a sua parte, pois se Me buscar de todo o coração você Me encontrará. Se buscar a Minha paz e vier à Minha presença em sossego e confiança, receberá a paz. Aliviarei seus temores, preocupações e ansiedades se entregá-los a Mim em humildade, pedindo a Minha ajuda e paz.

Meu amor e coração estão abertos a você e prontos para lhe dar soluções, consolo, amor e forças. Então clame a Mim e lhe responderei com a Minha paz e forças. Eu o guiarei, protegerei, orientarei e encherei o seu coração com a Minha paz que sobrepassa todo entendimento.


Paz vencedora

“Aí sim, a sua luz irromperá como a alvorada, e prontamente surgirá a sua cura; a sua retidão irá adiante de você, e a glória do Senhor estará na sua retaguarda.”—Isaías 58:8[4]

Se aprender a confiar em Mim de verdade, de todo o coração, você jamais perderá a paz que lhe dou. Toda situação pode contribuir para o bem se você a usar para aprender a confiar em Mim. É dessa maneira que destrói as obras do maligno e consegue ter mais graça para passar pelas adversidades que poderiam prejudicá-lo. José foi um ótimo exemplo de como reverter uma situação quando declarou aos irmãos: “Vocês planejaram o mal contra mim, mas Deus o tornou em bem.”[5]

Não tema o que este dia ou qualquer outra dia possa trazer. Concentre-se em confiar em Mim e fazer o que precisa ser feito. Relaxe na Minha soberania, lembrando-se que vou diante de você e estou com você cada dia. Não tema o mal, pois posso fazer toda situação contribuir para o seu bem.[6]


Aquiete-se, acalme-se

“Levantou-se um forte vendaval, e as ondas se lançavam sobre o barco, de forma que este foi se enchendo de água. Jesus estava na popa, dormindo com a cabeça sobre um travesseiro. Os discípulos o acordaram e clamaram: ‘Mestre, não te importas que morramos?’ Ele se levantou, repreendeu o vento e disse ao mar: ‘Aquiete-se! Acalme-se!’ O vento se aquietou, e fez-se completa bonança. Então perguntou aos seus discípulos: ‘Por que vocês estão com tanto medo? Ainda não têm fé?’ Eles estavam apavorados e perguntavam uns aos outros: ‘Quem é este que até o vento e o mar lhe obedecem?’”—Marcos 4:37–40[7]

Se confiar na Minha Palavra por fé, encontrará paz e descanso para o seu espírito. Deixe o fardo de preocupações, temores e ansiedades e busque-Me com fé.

Quando eu estava dormindo no barco açoitado pelo vento e pela tempestade, Meus discípulos não sabiam o que fazer, tiveram medo do vento e das ondas, preocupados com a embarcação. Por isso Me acordaram, porque sabiam que Eu tinha a solução. Eu disse então: “Aquiete-se, acalme-se”, e houve paz. Eles Me buscaram admitindo que não sabiam o que fazer, e Eu lhes dei paz.

Venha a Mim com a fé de uma criança que sabe que o pai não a desencaminhará, mas a guiará a toda verdade. Venha a Mim, abra o coração e a mente e lhe darei paz, a paz resultante de fé, confiança e de se submeter à vontade de Deus.

Publicado no Âncora em janeiro de 2016.


[1] NVI.

[2] Sarah Young, Jesus Lives (Thomas Nelson, 2009).

[3] NVI.

[4] NVI.

[5] Gênesis 50:20.

[6] Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (Thomas Nelson, 2010).

[7] ESV.

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Great Peace

Words from Jesus
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Audio length: 9:38
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“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’”—John 20:191

My peace is such an all-encompassing gift that it is independent of circumstances. Though you lose everything else, if you gain My peace, you are rich indeed.

Let that be a deep comfort to you, especially amid the many aspects of your life over which you have no control. When you are feeling at the mercy of your circumstances, My all-encompassing peace is exactly what you need, even though you sometimes feel unable to receive it. Perhaps that is because you cling to other things—your loved ones, your possessions, your reputation.

My desire is to help you treasure My peace above everything in the world—recognizing it as a supernatural gift, bequeathed to My followers shortly before My death. A man who knows he will soon die wants to leave something precious with those he loves. Therefore I “willed” My peace to My disciples and all who follow Me. I knew this was a difficult gift to receive, especially in the midst of adversity. So, after My resurrection, the first words I spoke to My disciples were “Peace be with you!” They needed this reassurance, to reinforce what I taught them before I died. You also need to be reminded of the divine nature of this gift, for it is not the world’s peace I give you; it is peace that transcends all understanding!

Clinging to other things makes it hard for you to receive this precious gift. That is like wrapping your fingers tightly around a small copper coin, while I am offering you unlimited supplies of pure gold. To receive My proffered gift, you must first open your hands and your heart to Me. By doing so, you release your concerns into My care and keeping. As you receive My glorious peace, you gain deeper intimacy with Me—the richest blessing of all!2
Peace in My presence

“Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”—Psalm 119:1653

As you diligently seek My face in prayer and as you acknowledge Me and bring your requests before Me, I will be a faithful provider. I will continue to care for you, to protect you from harm and evil. I will supply for you, I will succor you in danger. I will comfort you in tribulation. I will give peace in time of turmoil. I will bring joy in place of sorrow.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word shall not pass away. I will never fail to keep My promises to you. But you must do your part and seek Me, for if you seek Me, you will find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. If you seek My peace and come into My presence in stillness and quietness, My peace will fall upon you. I will relieve your fears and worries and anxieties as you come to Me and lay them at My feet in humility, and request My help and My peace.

My love and My heart are open to you and ready to pour out My answers, comfort, love and strength. So call unto Me and I will answer you. As you call, I give you My peace and strength. I will lead, protect, and guide; I will fill your heart with My peace that surpasses all understanding.
Peace that overcomes

“Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.”—Isaiah 58:84

If you learn to trust Me—really trust Me—with your whole being, then nothing can separate you from My peace. Everything you endure can be put to good use by allowing it to train you in trusting Me. This is how you foil the works of evil, growing in grace through the very adversity that was meant to harm you. Joseph was a prime example of this divine reversal, declaring to his brothers: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”5

Do not fear what this day, or any day, may bring your way. Concentrate on trusting Me and on doing what needs to be done. Relax in My sovereignty, remembering that I go before you, as well as with you into each day. Fear no evil, for I can bring good out of every situation you will ever encounter.6
Peace, be still

“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’”—Mark 4:37–407

As you trust in My Word by faith, you will find peace and rest for your spirit. So lay down the burden of your worries, fears, and anxieties, and come to Me in faith.

When I lay in the boat sleeping, and the waves and the wind and the storm battered it about, My disciples didn’t know what to do, and they were afraid of the wind and the waves and concerned about their vessel. So they woke Me, as they knew that the answer lay in My power. I said, “Peace, be still,” and there was peace. They came to Me, admitting that they didn’t know what to do, and I gave them peace.

So come to Me with the faith of a child who knows that his father will not lead him astray, but will guide him into all truth. Come to Me with an open heart and an open mind, and let Me give you My peace—the peace that comes from faith, trust, and from yielding your will to the will of God.

Published on Anchor January 2016. Read by Simon Peterson.
Music by Michael Dooley.



1 NIV.


2 Sarah Young, Jesus Lives (Thomas Nelson, 2009).


3 NIV.


4 NIV.


5 Genesis 50:20.


6 Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (Thomas Nelson, 2010).


7 ESV.

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More Like Jesus

P.Amsterdam

One of my all-time favorite songs is “I Want to Be More Like Jesus.” Whenever I hear or sing it, I’m reminded of a key aspect of living my faith. It serves as a short prayer that encompasses an important part of our faith journey as Christians—the development of Christ-likeness in our lives.

Take these things that hinder me
Take my pride and vanity
Help me understand You
Teach me how to love You
Take my self and hypocrisy
Let me live in simplicity
Help me burn my bridges
Put Your Word within me
Take my heartache and emptiness
Deliver me from all worldliness
Take the chains that bind me
Put Your arms around me

Chorus:

I wanna be more, I wanna be more like Jesus
I wanna be more, I need to be more like You

(Lyrics by Mylon Lefevre, adapted by Sam Halbert)

Aren’t those beautiful words? I think we all want to be more like Jesus—to have more of His goodness and godliness in our lives, and less of the weights and sins that hinder us. While Christians are forgiven for our sins because we have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice, this doesn’t cause us to automatically stop sinning, experiencing the effects of sin in our lives, and affecting others through our sins. Our salvation, the reconciliation with God we receive through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, is not only meant to affect our life in the hereafter; it’s also meant to transform the life we live today, every day.

It is within this daily transformation, this becoming more Christlike, that we begin to experience to an extent the life God originally meant for humanity to live before sin entered the world. Through this transformation, we develop the relationship with our Creator we were meant to have, and we experience more joy, peace, happiness, and fulfillment because we live with a deeper understanding of God and a fuller relationship with Him.

Our overall focus as Christians is on living life as the people of God, the new creations that Scripture says we are. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.1 In this series we will look at the ways and means of living and growing in Christlikeness by reviewing the example of Jesus’ life and what He and His early followers taught about living as new creatures in Christ.

This series, More Like Jesus, will consist of several articles that each touch on an element of Christlikeness and Christian character.

In order to better understand the concept of being more like Jesus, it helps to look at some aspects of the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Epistles. Connecting reference points throughout Scripture can help bring deeper understanding of the importance of imitating Christ.

The Old Testament2

One of the main story lines conveyed throughout the Old Testament is the understanding that God’s relationship with humanity is one of covenant.3

Scripture tells us that the Creator of all things entered into a covenant with humanity whom He created. Scripture expresses it this way:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said,“Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.4

Later, God renewed His universal covenant with humanity when He said to Noah:

“Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”5

God then entered a specific covenant with Abraham, telling him that through him He would bring forth a great nation, and that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”6

“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.”7

Centuries later, God delivered Abraham’s descendants from slavery and oppression in Egypt, and because of this they became His covenant people.8 As partakers of their covenant with God, there were things that the Hebrew people had to do to keep their side of the covenant agreement. The general narrative of the rest of the Old Testament is that God was continually faithful to the covenant in spite of Israel’s consistent failure to keep it.

Because Israel was in covenant with a holy God, they were meant to be holy as well. They were called to be a “holy assembly.”9 Holiness involved obedience to God—obedience given out of love and gratitude.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.10 “When your son asks you in time to come,‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes.’” 11

Righteousness for the Jewish people involved obedience, and that obedience meant separating themselves from what was deemed defiled, not worshiping other gods, and being consecrated for God’s own use. Besides centering their lives on living according to God’s mandates, it also meant living as a community of faith.

Author Stanley Grenz wrote:

Being God’s holy people did not end with the God-ward direction of life, however. Being in covenant with God demanded that Israel be a holy community, a people who knew that covenant status must translate into proper conduct toward others. Holy living extended to all dimensions of human interaction, including aspects as diverse as family life and commerce. And holiness demanded concern for the less fortunate; it placed limits on vengeance;12 it even required proper care for animals.13…Holiness did not focus primarily on blind obedience to an externally imposed set of laws as ends in themselves. Instead it involved taking seriously the responsibility implicated in receiving the gift of divine grace.14

Being God’s covenant partner meant living in a way that was patterned after God and His dealings with Israel. Through His words to them, God revealed His character to Israel. They learned that He was faithful, holy, just, and merciful. He described Himself as “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”15 The prophet Micah said: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?16

Because God revealed His character to the covenant people, they were meant to imitate Him. They were to be holy, just, merciful, loving, and forgiving.

The Gospels

The Hebrew people looked forward to the time when God would act on their behalf as was spoken of in Scripture. God met this expectation by sending Jesus, and through His life, death, and resurrection, brought about a new covenant.

[Jesus] took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”17

This new covenant was foretold in the book of Jeremiah:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people…. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”18

In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees held that to be righteous and holy required strict adherence to the Law given by God, and that the people of God were those who rigidly followed the Law. They focused on adhering to the letter of the Law, without giving proper attention to the principles of love, mercy, forgiveness, etc. which stood behind the Law. They believed God was pleased because they obeyed the rules of Jewish piety and followed the Law to the letter. Jesus disagreed with them. He proclaimed that the people of God were not those who appeared to be righteous due to their strict law-keeping, but rather those who were penitent, who knew they were sinners, regretted their transgressions, and humbly asked God for mercy and forgiveness. God accepts such people, and rejects the proud who claim they have no need of forgiveness. He made the point that we can’t merit God’s favor by what we do; we can’t make ourselves righteous in God’s sight. Instead, our righteousness comes from God, freely bestowed through unconditional grace.

While the Pharisees of His day felt that outward acts of obedience to the Law were the key to righteousness, Jesus focused inwardly, on the condition of the heart. He was concerned about character, motivation, and the heart. He knew that the “interior” problem needed to be remedied, that inward piety and proper motivation—not simply outward conformity to the Law—was the mark of true obedience and love for God. The key to remedying the “interior” problem, to becoming righteous, was salvation through Jesus’ sacrificial death. Righteousness is God’s gracious gift, given to us through the sacrifice of His Son. But this gracious gift isn’t the end of the story; it’s only the beginning. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, believers become the people of God, partakers of the new covenant. In gratitude for what God has done for us through Jesus, there is the expectation that we will reflect God into our world, that we will live in a manner that brings Him glory. It is here where living Jesus’ teachings comes into play.

Like the Hebrew people of the Old Testament, we know the revealed character of God. However, added to that, we have the life of Jesus—God Incarnate—as a further example of God’s love, mercy, and goodness. Jesus revealed further truth about God through His teachings and example. He preached the kingdom of God, He taught us to understand God as our Father, and He lived His life as a pure reflection of His Father.

Within the Gospels, we find that Jesus pointed to His own example as the pattern for godly living. For example, He challenged His disciples to love each other according to the pattern of His love for them. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.19 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.20 He exemplified submission to His Father’s will, which eventually took Him to the cross. My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.21

Jesus dramatized the life He desired for His disciples through symbolic acts, as seen on the occasion when He washed their feet. Jesus took water and a towel, and washed the feet of each disciple, a task that a servant would normally do when guests entered a dwelling.22 When He was done, He announced the symbolic nature of His act:

Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.23

When His disciples were disputing which one was to be regarded as the greatest, Jesus said to them:

The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.24

Jesus wasn’t merely conveying a message about doing the specific things He had done; it was deeper than that. He wasn’t advocating mere imitation of His actions, but rather stating that His disciples are to have the kind of devotion which connects them to Him at the deepest level of their person. Being devoted to Jesus leads to increasing conformity to Him. After washing the feet of His disciples, He didn’t admonish them to simply love as they had seen Him love. Instead, He said: Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.25 They were to love as He had loved them. Each of them had personally experienced His love directly, and with that love, they were to love others.

The motivation to be more like Jesus doesn’t come from admiration for a historical character whom we want to emulate. It is the outflow of gratitude and love to the one whose love we have personally experienced.

Stanley Grenz explains:

We do not look to him only as the main character in a story from a bygone era on whose life we can reflect and thereby draw instruction. Rather he has loved us and has sacrificed his life for us. To this personal experience of Jesus’ great love, we find ourselves compelled to respond with gratitude and love. Hence, rather than merely patterning our lives after his, we enter into relationship with him. In this relationship we desire to live as Christ would have us live, that is, to have Christ formed in us.26

Jesus’ death on the cross radically changed our lives, saved our souls, and made it possible for us to be in relationship with God, with whom we will spend eternity. Gratitude and love for Jesus laying down His life so that we could become members of God’s family is the underlying motive for wanting to be like Jesus.

In part two of this “Introduction and Background,” we will cover this concept as expressed in the Epistles.

Note

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

1 2 Corinthians 5:17.
2 The remainder of this article is a summary of chapter three of Stanley J. Grenz’s book, The Moral Quest (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1997).
3 A covenant is generally understood to be a solemn agreement that is binding on all parties. God entered into covenants with humanity, individuals, and the Hebrew people. The covenants He made at creation, and later with Noah, were universal covenants made with all humanity. The covenant He entered with Abraham was personal, yet it required Abraham to do specific things; and if he did them, he, his descendants specifically, and humanity in general would be blessed. The covenant God made with the Israelites was what’s known as a suzerainty covenant, which was common in the ancient Near East at the time of the Exodus. A suzerainty covenant or treaty was put in place when a greater king entered an agreement with a lesser king (or vassal). Such a document named the parties and listed the suzerain’s fiats—commands specifying how the vassal king and his people must behave, including exclusive allegiance to the suzerain, and laws the suzerain wanted the vassal to obey. This is followed by the blessings which will come for obedience and punishment for disobedience. All of these aspects are present in the covenant God made with the Israelites. He gave His name, “I am the Lord your God”; told what He had done—“who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Then He gave the commandments, some of which had sanctions imbedded in them. The first commandment demanded exclusive covenant loyalty, and the others showed what forms that loyalty was to take.
4 Genesis 1:27–30.
5 Genesis 9:9–11.
6 Genesis 12:1–3.
7 Genesis 17:4–5.
8 I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people (Leviticus 26:12).
9 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you (Exodus 12:16).
10 Deuteronomy 6:5.
11 Deuteronomy 6:20–22.
12 Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight (Deuteronomy 25:3).
13 Deuteronomy 22:1–4.
14 Grenz, The Moral Quest, 99.
15 Exodus 34:6–7.
16 Micah 6:8.
17 Luke 22:19–20.
18 Jeremiah 31:31–33, 34.
19 John 13:34.
20 John 15:12.
21 Matthew 26:39.
22 John 13:1–11.
23 John 13:12–15.
24 Luke 22:25–27.
25 John 13:34.
26 Grenz, The Moral Quest, 116.

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