This is something we must never forget, that in the ancient world, people regularly, when they had a child they didn't want, especially if it was a girl, they left that poor child out for the wolves or the gypsies or...whoever to take and do with what they wanted. The early Judeans didn't do that. The early Christians didn't do that because they valued every human being.
[00:06:24]
In principle this is not something which we should welcome, it is not something which we should collude with. At the same time, there may be certain exceptions of which severe deformity might be one, of which certainly incest and rape would be others. And in those cases, I would say the sooner the better, because at a certain point, and I am not medically qualified to say at what point I would draw a line, then this is a viable human being that should then be cherished.
[00:07:22]
We're not just talking about some inert lump of matter, which we can just get rid of as we please. So the whole debate about the woman's rights, it's very difficult. It's very hard for a man to talk about this.
[00:08:20]
I do think that that sense of respect for God's creation in all its rich variety is the primary starting point, even if we then have to say with sorrow and a certain sense of this is the least worst option in this situation, that there may be some cases of exceptions.
[00:09:07]
I do think that that sense of respect for God's creation in all its rich variety is the primary starting point, even if we then have to say with sorrow and a certain sense of this is the least worst option in this situation, that there may be some cases of exceptions. That's about as far as I can get at the moment. And as I say, I'm very much aware of just how sensitive this topic is politically, sociologically, as well as ethically.
[00:09:07]
Paul does seem to be saying in the new creation, all the forces that were part of God's good creation will in fact be brought back into a new harmony.
[00:13:15]
If you're not careful, you end up with the devil and God being kind of equal and opposite, where you get some systems of a dualism in which there is this creature called the devil, and maybe not even a creature, maybe an equal sort of being to God, and then we're in this sort of battle being joined. I don't think that's how the New Testament sees it.
[00:13:44]
Temptation does not present itself in the form of a funny little figure with horns and hooves and so on, saying, now, Tom, why don't you do this? Or perhaps you should do that. Rather, temptation arises from things that seem to occur to us naturally. Oh, maybe I should do this now. Maybe I could do that. And it's only gradually as we grow as Christians when we realize this is a temptation.
[00:14:48]
I don't want to dignify that force with the idea of full personhood. That's why in my translations and in my commentaries, I have referred to the Satan as it rather than him. And I've talked about the Satan with a small s or sometimes the devil with a small d as a way of saying sometimes the shadowy forces do seem to gather themselves into one which is saying, do this now? Or why don't you go and do that? Or why don't you avoid going to church today?
[00:15:17]
I don't think there is a being equal and opposite to God or even equal and opposite to Jesus that would then need to be reconciled. That idea, of course, goes back to Origen at the start of the third century, who did think that since God intended to be all in all, that would include the reconciliation of everything, including the devil. But I want to say to Origen, hang on, hang on, hang on. Your idea of this great monistic scheme as God's ultimate ideal is pushing far too far in all sorts of directions.
[00:15:56]
At this point, I'm prepared to go much more with the book of Revelation, which sees all the negative forces as being thrown into this pit of fire, which is a very vivid way of saying God will root out from his eventual new world everything that causes corruption, sin, death, tears, the lot.
[00:16:29]
The point about the Satan is that the Satan is opposed to the goodness of God's creation and to the rescue and redemption of God's good creation. So if God is rescuing and redeeming creation, then the force that is against it is being destroyed. Ipso facto, that's part of what's happening.
[00:17:20]
We're not talking in the abstract about the law as simply a system of morals, with the question being, what happens if we do or don't keep it, and how does God rescue us? And people who've taken it like that have said, well, in Galatians, Paul says that the law gets abolished, so you don't need to worry about it anymore. But in Romans, he seems to be saying something more subtle about the law being somehow fulfilled, fulfilled, and that it's fulfilled in the spirit, and so on.
[00:21:58]
In Galatians, Paul is really worried that the recent converts in what we now call southern Turkey are in danger of wanting to get circumcised. Why? Well, that's complicated, but it looks as though in this community in southern Galatia, in southern Turkey, in Galatia, that's the cities that Paul visited in Acts 13 and 14. People have become Christians, but then as a result, they have started up this community which is claiming the right, which traditionally the Judeans, the Jews, had had, the right not to have to worship the local gods.
[00:22:33]
So it looks to our post -Reformation eyes as though Galatians is against the law, because we have stopped reading Galatians in its real historical situation. As soon as you see that historical situation, of course Paul has to say, don't go back to the law, because that is to go back to the previous stage in God's purposes, where if you were trying to keep the law, you end up in exile, as Deuteronomy said you would.
[00:26:05]
Galatians is saying, watch out, don't go to the Jewish Torah because that's taking you back into the slavery which Deuteronomy warned you about. Rather, go with the Messiah and the Spirit, and you'll find that everything that the law was wanting to do is fulfilled, as he says in Galatians 5 and 6.
[00:28:05]
In Romans, he's saying, look, the law, the Jewish law was a good thing, now fulfilled. Yes, there are problems about it, as in Romans 7, but that's dealt with in Christ and the Spirit in Romans 8. And now, if you're that sort of people, do not think that you have to look down at the physical children of Abraham as though they're a lesser breed and now they're written off.
[00:28:25]
With this difference, I could go on about this all day, but let me just say this one more thing. In Galatians, when Paul is talking about justification, he is talking covenant language. He's talking about the promises to Abraham and how they are fulfilled in Christ. He is not using law court language. Many people, knowing that in Romans, Paul does use law court language, have read that back into Galatians. But if all we had was Galatians, you wouldn't know that all that law court stuff was going on. It's all about membership in Abraham's covenant family.
[00:28:56]
We have to be careful to follow the actual train of thought in both letters. Now, there's much, much, much more we could say, but that, I think, is a start.
[00:30:00]
