Q&A Session (3)
Notes
Transcript
Is It Sinful for a Man to Have Long Hair?
Is It Sinful for a Man to Have Long Hair?
14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him,
Let’s be fair here - I had a woman really stress this passage once, and she had short hair.
6 For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head.
This is a complicated one.
So what’s happening in Corinth?
There seems to be a question of gender roles in Corinth
Wives who are to submit to their husbands are pushing against that idea - in more than just the issue of head coverings
So Paul is appealing to the created order of thing
3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
Head coverings and hair length were a reflection of that order
The state of your hair implied a lot about your morals and marriage status
Uncovered hair was seen as a way of inviting the male gaze
Married women would wear head coverings as a form of modesty
In short: Paul is concerned about how we live out and express that created order
The problem isn’t hair length in particular, but how the culture in Corinth perceived that long hair. Nowhere else is long hair for a man or short hair for a woman condemned in any way
Absalom was beloved for his long hair
25 Now in all Israel there was no one so much to be praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. 26 And when he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of every year he used to cut it; when it was heavy on him, he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.
Samson had long hair
32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—
The Nazirites had long hair
5 “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
Paul says a man praying with his head covered is the same as having long hair. The Priests wore turbans while serving in the temple in Jerusalem.
In modern times:
God nowhere says that a man painting his nails is sinful. But what does that communicate to the world around us?
The concern is that men be men and women be women - each staying within the created order. In Corinth, men with long hair and women with short hair were seen as pushing against that created order.
Today, hair length is not such a gendered thing - man buns exist!
Does God Love Satan?
Does God Love Satan?
Depends on who you ask!
Eastern Orthodoxy is that God’s love is not lessened towards the sinful or fallen
If God loved Satan he does not love him any less, much like he loves us sinners so much that Jesus died for us
That’s more trivia than anything because I completely disagree that God loves Satan.
Satan is an enemy that is opposed to God, actively working to prevent salvation, and who will ultimately end up condemned alongside any people who reject God.
God does not love Satan and neither should you!
He’s the enemy
The evil one
The father of lies and a murderer
The accuser of God’s people
The tempter of God’s people
A deceiver
A schemer
And a thief
He is completely opposed to God and his purposes.
8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
But does God hate him?
God hates sinners:
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
5 The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
15 Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.
Closely tied to the concept of hatred in the OT is separation from the thing or person you hate. In all of the three passages we just read we can see it.
Hosea 9:15 - because God hates them they will be driven out of his house
Psalm 11:5 - he hates the wicked and
7 For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.
Which means the wicked won’t see his face because they’ve been driven away
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
They cannot be in God’s presence
So if the Devil is ultimately to be thrown in the lake of fire and away from the presence of the Lord, I think it’s because he hates him.
What Does the Phrase “New Heavens and New Earth” Mean?
What Does the Phrase “New Heavens and New Earth” Mean?
New Heavens and Earth in Isaiah
New Heavens and Earth in Isaiah
17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain.
Isaiah’s context
God is constantly warning about the judgment on his people
This judgment will have restorative effects - purifying his people
Isaiah is looking towards the end when the judgment is over
How that all played out
Israel was led into exile
Israel returned in 539 BC expecting grand things, but are disappointed
There is no one on the throne of David
God’s presence in the temple is questionable
Life is really difficult
Isaiah 55-66 struggle with the question of God’s restoration. Did any of this actually happen?
The new heaven and new earth are God’s commitment to restoring his people as promised
They’re very ‘earthy’
17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
So Isaiah’s new heaven and earth are more representative of a new order of things where his people are no longer on the bottom. He doesn’t have heaven in mind because people are still dying!
Isaiah also mentions that in the new heaven and earth:
25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.
This is a call back to Isaiah 11:6 and is the result of a new godly king:
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
The only one who fit this was Jesus!
So Isaiah is looking forward to the time of Christ when he gathers his people who have been restored to a right relationship with him.
New Testament Typology
New Testament Typology
When we see this language being used in the New Testament in 2 Peter 3:13 and Revelation 21, they are not saying that what Isaiah saw hasn’t happened yet. Rather, they’re taking the same language and idea to describe the future hope that we have.
Isaiah looked forward to a time when the enemy was judged and God’s people restored in righteousness and justice.
We look forward to a time when sin and death are conquered and we are perfected and brought into a new kind of relationship with God.
Peter and John are borrowing similar language and hope from Isaiah, and saying that through Christ it’s become so much more!
How Literal?
How Literal?
Is this a figure of speech representing something else (or multiple things)? Or is it, at least partially, literal? Do these passages teach that there is a created new heavens and new earth in place of the current heavens and earth where, after Christ returns, we live with God eternally?
But how literal are they about the new heaven and new earth? Is it only a figure of speech or is the afterlife going to be in a recreation of heaven and earth?
Isaiah was thinking more along the ideas of a new world order - heaven could even be skies to him, referring to the entire created order
Revelation is highly symbolic. We should be careful not to read Revelation 1-20 as symbols and then, without reason, read Revelation 21-22 literally.
2 Peter places his comment about a new heaven and earth within the context of this present earth being destroyed
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
But holds out the hope that we’re more interested in the new heaven and earth that awaits us
One other passage that we should look at when considering the “new earth” is Romans 8:19-23
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
The creation is:
longing for the revelation of God’s children
Subjected to futility, but hoping to be set free (Genesis 3, curse of the man)
It’s freedom is of the same glory that we hope for
We have the same longings as we wait for everything to be made right
Paul says that creation has the same hope that we do!
We look forward to the resurrection where we will be perfected - everything that we should be
All of that burning in 2 Peter 3 might be closer to a purification by fire, dissolved in order to be remade
Creation is going to be everything it should be, everything it was meant to be
So this has lead people to having a more “earthy” perception of heaven, similar to something like the garden.
Does It Matter?
Does It Matter?
When we imagine heaven we’re typically imagining what we want heaven to be. At various times in my life I’ve imagined heaven being an endless buffet of the perfect bite where your never full, but always satisfied. At other times I’ve imagined it as my dad, my brother, and I all as old men beating each other over the heads with our canes. And of course we have all of the stock images of clouds, golden palaces, etc. floating around in our head.
The point is that we all have different preferences of what paradise is, so we all have different pictures of heaven. But we’re all talking about the same place - the place where we get to be with God forever. Heaven isn’t a place, it’s a person. Nevertheless, God uses many different images to communicate this paradise to us that are helpful in describing what heaven is like - but maybe not what it is.
It will be rich like the city in Revelation
It will be paradise like the Garden of Eden
It will be a new order of things where everything has been made new - the heaves, the earth, and us
