Mormons

For Your Edification is a weekly set of resources on the subjects of Bible, Theology, Ministry, and Family Life. Let me know what you think or if you have other resources that growing Christians should be aware.

BIBLE

A Smoking Fire Pot and a Flaming Torch. Matthew Barrett, editor behind Credo Magazine, has given a brief overview of Genesis 15 and the significance of the covenant made by God with Abraham. He argues that the conditions of the Abrahamic covenant are fulfilled by God himself, thus making the covenant (un)conditional. For more on the (un)conditional nature of the Old Testament covenants see the forthcoming book, Kingdom Through Covenant by two Southern Seminary professors, Stephen Wellum and Peter Gentry.

‘Covenant’ or ‘Will’ in Hebrews 9. For the aspiring biblical interpreter (with a little Greek knowledge), Bill Mounce has provided a helpful commentary on Hebrews 9:16-17, and why it should be translated “covenant” (NASB, KJV) and not “will” (ESV, NIV, etc). He questions,

The standard argument is that the author is arguing by analogy. Having mentioned an inheritance, he talks about human wills not being valid until there was a death. “For where there is a covenant, it is required that the death of the one who made it be established. For a will takes effect only when a person has died; it cannot possibly be valid so long as the one who made it is still alive” (vv 16-17, NIV). The will belongs to “the one who made it.” Hence, the translation “will” and not “covenant.” (There are of course other reasons, but you can read the commentaries for yourself.)

The problem, though, is that it is hard to see how an analogy of a will helps the argument. The overall argument is certainly about the covenants. And just as importantly, the next verse draws a conclusion from vv 16-17. “Therefore (ὅθεν) not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood” (v 18, NIV). So are we still are talking about covenants?

Check out the rest at The Koinonia Blog.

THEOLOGY

Are Mormons Christian? Joe Carter has taken the time to answer a few important questions that distinguish Christians and Mormons. Since public religious figures (I don’t want to use the word pastor) like Joel Osteen have dropped the ball on rightly answering this question, we need to be better equipped to offer insight into what Mormon’s believe–after all, in a few months our country will probably be voting for or against a Mormon. So here is a fast and friendly guide to understanding some of the main teachings about Mormons, and the false views they hold. I would encourage you to print this out and keep it near the front door for the next time they come by.

FAMILY, LIFE, & MINISTRY

Ten Narnia Resources. Andy Naselli, theologian, author, and librarian of all things Carson, has provided the ultimate Resource Guide for The Chronicles of Narnia. If you are reading or will read C. S. Lewis’s series of children’s books to your children, be sure to check out his cautions as well as his commendations.

Chuck Colson (1931-2012). In the NY Times, Michael Gerson has provided a warm, personal, and Christ-honoring reflection of the passing away of his mentor and friend, Chuck Colson. Chuck Colson was indicted in 1974 in his role in Watergate. In prison he was converted, and over the last three and half decades, he has powerfully witnessed to the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. For a list of his important books, see Tom Gilson’s article on Colson’s life.

The Ugly American – Sex Trafficking and Our National Humiliation. In light of the recent Secret Service scandal in Colombia, Albert Mohler writes an eye-opening piece on something that most Americans are willfully or ignorantly blind to–sex trafficking! He cites two recent reports in USA Today and the NY Times that chronicle the sex trafficking America (not just Americans) finances. Mohler’s articles displays how far sin has taken us, and how sexual sin has an insatiable appetite for more and more perversion. For a ministry that fights sex trafficking and promotes purity, see PureHOPE website.

May God use these resources to help you walk in a manner worthy of the gospel.

Beware of Externalism

Too often, religious talk about clothing crashes on the rocks of legalism or drowns in the sea of irrelevance. On one side of the aisle are Christians who measure their holiness by the length of their dress or the style of their hair; and on the other side are those who reject social norms for dressing and end up looking like they slept in their clothes all night–to steal a line from Back to the Future.

In both cases, the problem is externalism–making Christianity about something that you do on the outside instead of something that Christ did in history and that the Holy Spirit does within you. Ironically, this is of a piece with a certain kind of Mormon error. Pointing to Exodus 28, their false religion–for Mormonism is not Christian–finds support for holy undergarments. Listen to their statement, from Mormon-Underwear.com.

For temple-going Mormons, the garment serves much the same purpose as religious clothing throughout history—it privately sets them apart from the world and signifies a covenant between the wearer and God. There is no professional clergy in the LDS Church, so in some ways the garment serves as a symbol of the lay clergy, where both men and women share in the responsibilities and blessings of the priesthood…

The meaning attached to the garment by devout Mormons transcends the fabric and design used to create the garment. It is sacred to the wearer not for what it is, but for what it represents. It reminds the wearer of the continuing need for repentance and obedience to God, the need to honor binding covenants voluntarily made in the temple, and the need to cherish and share truth and virtue in our daily living. By so doing, the garment helps the wearer to focus his or her life on Jesus Christ and to thereby lay claim on the blessings promised to those who do so.

Christians can point the finger and perhaps even snicker, but the problem is, Christians do the same thing today. Whether it is Simon Schrock—who is not of immediate relation—who has written the book What the redeemed should wear?, insinuating that redemption is externally apparent, or countless Christian clothing companies who challenge devoted teens to boldly wear their faith, the problem is that Exodus 28 does not point to our clothing options. It points to Jesus.

Here is the point. Wear whatever you want. Your clothing doesn’t save you. It doesn’t make you more acceptable to God. It would, if we were Levitical priests, but we are not. The message of the gospel is one of inner renewal, not outward conformity.

What You Wear Still Matters

With all of that said, I think what you wear is of eternal importance. More accurately, whose clothes you wear is of eternal importance. In fact, the redemptive story, from one angle, can be told from the perspective of Nakedness and Clothing. Consider:

In the garden, man and woman were naked and unashamed; their innocence permitted them to be naked before God (Gen 2:24). However, after the fall, clothing was needed. Adam and Eve sensed that, so they made fig-leaf fashion. They hid themselves under the clothes they made for themselves–sounds familiar to many of us today! But such man-made garments never cover the sin and insecurities that the fall produced. Adam, Eve, and everyone of their offspring needed and needs divine covering.

So God slaughtered an animal and clothed Adam and Eve. In the rest of the Bible, God’s saving plan is seen in the way he clothes his people. This is seen in Exodus 28 and Psalm 45, where the bride of the king is adorned in a royal robe. But even more to the point, Isaiah 61:10 says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Salvation comes from God’s clothing us.

From this position of being clothed in Christ, we are called to put off the old ways of life, and to put on the new. Notice what Paul says in Colossians 3:9-10, Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Though, the language is not exactly the same; the idea of putting off the impure garments of this age and putting on pure garments of the new age (cf. 2 Cor 5:4).

A concluding thought: The danger in Exodus 28 is simply principalizing the text, such that it becomes a handbook for clothing, instead of seeing how it shows us our uncleanness and the need to be clothed with Christ. From start to finish, the Christian message is how God clothes impure sinners in his righteous robes.

This is the saving message of Exodus 28: Jesus is your clothing. His priestly garments make you holy, so far as you trust in him. He is your righteous robe. That is what separates you from the world, more than any wash and wear you can put on.

So, trust in the garments Jesus offers, and you will not be naked or ashamed when he calls you to stand before him at the judgment (Rev 3:18).

Soli Deo Gloria, dss