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"Anyone wishing to save humanity
must first of all save the Word."
~ Jacques Ellul
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Brief exegetical and expository essays
on biblical texts--usually on
texts often mis-used within a preaching
context, or poorly exposited, and,
as well, texts used as clichés
and unfortunately as misappropriated
"proof texts." The goal
of
Rough Cuts
is to help the reader to re-hear
a text all over again, consider another
interpretation, and possibly to hear
God's voice in the text. The
interpretive method (of
contextual-observation) used here is a
model for your own personal Bible study
habits. Enjoy and may God give you the gift
of observation. |
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March 25, 2006
Mark 1:17: Fishers of
men reconsidered: first significance, then
application
By Chip M
Anderson
When Jesus invites us to follow
Him, he promises, “I will make you become
fishers of men.” Many understand this to mean
that Christians are to catch the unsaved
for Christ. If you assume this interpretation
of Mark 1:17 (and Matthew 4:19), the act of
fishing is, then, an illustration of evangelism
or a “picture of winning people to Christ.”
Interpreting the “fishers of men” text in this
way is based two assumptions: 1) Fishing
is a biblical metaphor for evangelizing
(“fishers of men = evangelism/witnessing”), and
as such, the metaphor would have been
understood, without explanation, as such by the
disciples; 2)
The fishing
metaphor is transferable to today’s fishing
context, and thus, can be utilized to call
Christians to evangelize (i.e., to fulfill being
“fishers of men”)...While I completely appreciate
those who have become such fishers of men,
that is, have made commitments to witness and
catch men for Christ, I believe we should pause
long enough to consider one thing:
If fish are unsaved people,
imagine evangelism from the fish’s
perspective.
more>>
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March 31, 2005
By Chip M.
Anderson
I have had
enough, and I can’t take it anymore! If I hear
one more time that the parable of the Sower in
Mark 4 (and Matthew 13) is about me and my
heart, or about the different types of hearts in
sinners, I am going to scream!
Can you tell I am bothered a slight bit
regarding this rather simplistic and erroneous
interpretation and application of this
all-to-familiar parable? Well, I am. And you
should be, too....Good exegesis, even a
rough cut exegesis of this text, is dismissed
for the superficial attraction to word-play:
Soil is the human condition, the type of soil is
the human heart. This is not only poor
exegesis, it misses the word God wants us to
hear and our application will move us away from
obedience to the parable's intended purpose. We
miss an opportunity to further our
discipleship. And reflecting on the caveat in
vv 9-13, I fear what we, as Christians and a
Christian community, lose.
more>>
can't do pdf.>>
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here
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October 11, 2004
By Chip M.
Anderson
Many
preachers use Paul’s admonition Let the
word of Christ richly dwell within you
to encourage and admonish their congregations to
study their Bible, to have their devotions, to
join a bible study, to “come out on Wednesday
nights,” attend Sunday School, and memorize
Scripture. As spiritual and as good as these
are, such application misses Paul’s intent in
Colossians 3:16, and thus, the Church fails to
hear a specific call to obedience.
more>>
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June 13, 2004
Mark 13: Move
beyond just the words: God Inspired Structure
By Chip M. Anderson
The
definition of inspiration usually speaks
specifically to the words of the text, that is,
each word is inspired of God. This is one
reason I believe we like the words of scripture
and why we lift them out and give them meaning
and application as if they are inspired without
their accompanying words, grammar, paragraphs,
and flow of thought. A concentration on the
words (each word as an independent thought)
causes us to err in our interpretations of the
text and, as a result, miss God’s Word to us
through the text. Of course I believe each word
of Scripture is inspired—but more than just
the words are God-breathed....Most Christians
believe that Mark 13 is a little apocalypse and
mainly speaks of the end of time...more>>
can't do pdf.>>
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here |
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June 9, 2004
“Seeing” Revelation: Revelation 1 and its
significance to chapters 2-22
By Chip M Anderson
Revelation
is a hard book to interpret. Good and decent
commentators differ. One’s so-called
eschatological (or ‘End Times’) perspective
often determines, a priori, one’s interpretation
of Revelation. This is why I believe,
Revelation is a good place to start on the
subject of making broad observations before
getting into the details, even before exegeting
the text...more>>
can't do pdf.>>
See June 9, 2004
Margin,
Chip's contextual-observation method...click
here.
Know someone who might
appreciate this Rough Cut...pass it on...click
here |
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July 6, 2004
2
Corinthians 2:14:
Who is being led in “triumphal procession” and
why?
Chip M. Anderson
Paul isn’t a twentieth-first
century theologian. And, his audiences were not
21st century Americans. These are
important facts to remember. We often err in
getting out of the text what the author put in
because we make an illegitimate correspondence
between a referent (e.g., a word, concept,
event, etc.) found in the text and our
experience. Sadly, these illegitimate
correspondences are reinforced over and over by
preachers and popular Christian writers, so much
so, that it is hard to undo them in the hearts
and minds of the faithful, average Christians
who listen to sermons each week and participate
in Sunday Schools and Bible Studies. A chief
example of this error can be found in how 2
Corinthians 2:14 is understood...more>>
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June 2, 2004
1 Peter
5:7:
Who is to
cast their “anxiety” upon the Lord?
Chip M. Anderson
We are
often attracted to or identify with certain
Bible verses because we like the words in
the verse. For some, the words “speak to me.”
Problem is, we approach Scripture this way
regardless of the author’s actual meaning in the
context...None of us
like being taken out of context. Can you
imagine if we treated each other’s words,
written or oral, like we do the words of
Scripture? ...It is not just the words—it
is the context that matters. God’s word is
wrapped up in the author’s meaning—their
discourse, their intentions...more>>
can't do pdf.>>
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here
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Top
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For those who cannot download pdf files...
1 Peter 5:7
2
Corinthians 2:14
Revelation 1
Mark 13
Colossians
3:16
Mark 4 |
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"My conscience
is captive
to the Word of
God."
~ Martin Luther ~ |
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Wednesday, November 21, 2007 |
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“Listen” &
See |
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“Piously, or
politically, we cripple ourselves
with the need to bring about God’s
righteousness on earth, failing to
hear what Jesus so vividly declares:
that we need not shoulder that
burden because the goal itself does
not need to be accomplished. The
goal is a fact, God’s fact, the fact
of grace and promise. No gap
divides what God says from what God
does; and the stories of the coming
kingdom do not offer dreams and
possibilities of what the Lord might
or could do, but speak indicatively,
and in the present tense of what is
happening, and of what the future is
becoming. The kingdom need not—and
cannot not—be worked for; it may
only be accepted and awaited. On
the other hand this waiting for
God’s indicatives cannot be
dispassionate or passive…the gospel
enslaves us again with its
imperatives, demanding everything of
us by way of repentance and
discipleship” ~ Alan Lewis,
Between Cross and Resurrection: The
Theology of Holy Saturday
“There is no shred of
evidence in Paul’s letters to
suggest that he judged the churches
by the measure of their success in
rapid numerical growth…this is
nowhere appears as either an anxiety
or an enthusiasm about the numerical
growth of the church” ~L. Newbigin,
The Open
Secret: An Introduction to the
Theology of Mission
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An Urban pastor explains
why he believes his parish begins at the
pulpit—and extends all the way to city
hall |
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