On reading the Gospels wisely

I've been Reading Jonathan Pennington's Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction. It's as good as I expected it would be, even if one or two chapters were decidedly slow-going for me.

Bottom line, "reading the Gospels wisely" is a major goal for me. I'm glad that Pennington points out what I've often noticed as well: the strange lack of emphasis on the Gospels (as opposed to the epistles) among many reformed evangelicals. And when they do reference something in the Gospels, the passage is inevitably seen through the lens of the (Pauline) epistles. In fact, this inverts the proper relationship. We ought to be reading the epistles through the lens of the Gospels.

I'll illustrate this from my own experience. In a recent conversation, a seminary student told me that Jesus' words in the first part of the Sermon on the Mount, where he equates anger with murder and lustful thoughts with adultery, were intended to show our helpless state and need for God's redeeming grace.

Well, that's a fine example of reading the Gospels through the lens of the Pauline epistles. In fact, such a reading is not so much Jesus-centered as Paul-centered, and not so much Gospel-oriented as Reformation theology oriented.

For me, coming to grips with Jesus has been the longest of long-roads in my faith walk, and one that even now I have only just begun. There have been many diversions. The "saved-by-faith-not-works" diversion was one, where absolutely everything was boiled down to that one message. The trouble is, the Sermon on the Mount cannot be boiled down to a mere truism. Sometimes reformed theology can seem nothing more like a theological avoidance-mechanism.

I suppose I should say here that I believe in the formulation -- saved by faith, not by works -- with all my heart. I suppose I should also say I have loved Paul's epistles for many years. But my primary study from now on is going to be in the Gospels. This is simply addressing a felt-need, I suppose. Jesus is the most supremely attractive figure in human history. We have four sources for his words and deeds -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This is not to say I won't ever again be reading the OT or the epistles (after all, I go to an evangelical church, so the preaching will probably be frequently settled on the epistles), but that for me, in my private study and prayer, the Gospels will come first.

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I'll be back with more from Pennington's book, and more also about the Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5, in a later post.

On Reading Matthew

I've been reading through the Gospel of Matthew in a fairly desultory way (I do want to change that "desultory" part). The idea was to read devotionally, in small chunks, maybe with repeat readings of the same passage before moving on, keeping notes in a journal along the way. The idea was, in short, slow reading. Thoughtful reading. Devoted and worshipful reading. I'd flown over the forest many times, and knew its shape and contours from above, but now I wanted to walk straight through, taking my time, following the paths, keeping alert.

Well, that was the idea. In fact, since then I've been stumbling through the forest, taking long breaks, distracted, missing a lot of the signposts and trail markers, and a lot of the beauty as well. The plan was a good one . . . on paper. It was in the implementation that the problems arose. This reading plan calls for, well, certain commitments from the reader. Not merely hitting marks or keeping to a schedule (like a Bible-in-one-year reading plan), but commitments that reach to the level of character, maturity, the earnest engagement of the heart and the full attention of the mind.

In these matters I have been inconsistent at best. Jonathan Pennington, in his book, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, presents the model of the ideal reader. The ideal reader reads with keen attention. The ideal reader is aware of his own presumptions and biases and tries to set them aside. And the ideal reader of Scripture understands his own need for personal transformation. He reads with that purpose in mind.

Pennington's book is surely the right book for me to be reading just now. So my plan is to continue my devotional reading of the Gospel of Matthew, but I'll be going back to the start. Pennington's outline of the structure of the text is helping me to see how much I've been missing. And his focus on reading the text for the purpose of character formation, which after all was Matthew's intent, is exactly what I need.

A Great Light

Jonathan Pennington's book, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, is really engaging. I can't wait to pick it up each evening. Pennington is helping me "adjust my focus" when it comes to the Sermon.

If you'd like to hear Pennington himself discuss the book, this podcast is for you. And this one. Oh, and this one too.

Needless to say, I'm kind of stuck on the Sermon. My Bible-reading modus operandi lately has been to focus primarily on the four Gospels (I said "primarily," not "exclusively"). As for the Sermon, I just can't seem to get past it. In one of those podcasts above Pennington suggests that one good practice to help you understand the Sermon better is to memorize it. He admits he hasn't got it all down just yet, but much of it. Maybe I'll try that.

The Sermon as a whole is, among many other things, a call to radical selflessness or humility. I keep thinking, as I read this, that Jesus is out to convince people of the ultimate beauty of humility, and that in humility is foundational to holiness.

As such, the Sermon acts as a corrective, a kind of re-orientation of our hearts, turning us away from our normal concerns, calling us to something better and yet something daunting and apparently counter-logical. That which is central to God is not normally central to us.

Christmas can act as the same kind of corrective. So to finish, let's hear from Isaiah:

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

2 The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
    and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
    and every garment rolled in blood
    will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon[d] his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called[e]
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.