Antiphon to a Homily

No, Sir, I don’t agree. These passages are two of the quintessential statements of the Gospel. As Dad said, we had two Gospels read this morning.

For those who might read this, here is the background. The readings this morning, given above, are from 1 Corinthians 15 and John 20. Most of us recognize them and many even know their sources. The homily that accompanied these absolute gems of scripture focused on John 20:30. We were told that we have to read between the lines and apply the things not written in this book to mean our experiences in our lives in this time. Really? With these two scriptures, this is what we get?

In that last paragraph of John 20, John is making a point about why he wrote his Gospel and why he included the stories that he selected. We should remember that John was the last of the Gospels to be recorded, and that John is different from the Synoptics in a number of ways. John spends as much time discussing theology as he does telling the historical narrative of Jesus. John does not use nearly the number of events in the life of Jesus as, for instance, Luke. His purpose was somewhat different. Rather than trying to read something into that paragraph that simply isn’t there, let’s try reading what John actually said.

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John tells us that Jesus did more miracles than he reports in his Gospel. No problem there, we know about others of them from other Scripture sources. John also tells us that his purpose for writing was to affirm to the reader that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. That seems like a first order important item. John also tells us that we may have life in the name of Jesus if we believe that He is the Son of God. That is about as clear and concise a statement of the faith as exists in scripture. But let’s not just let John tell us these things, what does Paul say?

Verses 3-11 are absolutely incredible! Paul delivered to us what he first received. Can you deliver an experience? Can you receive an experience from someone else? Perhaps you can receive and deliver something else…like the news, Good News, the Gospel. What does Paul say that this Good News might be? To begin, it is of first importance, not just some trivia he picked up eaves dropping on the road to Ephesus. This is the meat, the main point, the punch line.

Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, He was buried, He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and He appeared to quite a few people, some of whom were still alive and could be questioned on the matter.

Fantastic! Paul is telling us that he gave us these Doctrines, delivered to us not only as historical fact, but in fulfillment of prophesy. The Scripture of Paul’s time was the Old Testament. 1 Corinthians is thought to be the oldest of the New Testament documents; therefore, scripture has to mean the Old Testament. So, logically, in accordance with the scriptures has to mean in fulfillment of prophesy. But more than that, it is also historical fact, and here is the list of witnesses. Our doctrine derives directly from historical events that happened regardless of how we might feel about them, or what these facts mean to us 2000 years later. And these same events fulfilled prophesy signifying the messiah. Paul appeals to the resurrection as a historical event. He links this event to the doctrine of salvation. And there were a lot of witnesses, lots of them. Back in the first two verses, Paul calls this the Gospel by which you have been saved.

Both John and Paul believed that these historical events actually happened. Both John and Paul believed that Jesus was exactly Who He said that He was. Both John and Paul believed that Salvation was linked to and dependent upon the Resurrection of Jesus. Both John and Paul believed that belief in these facts were the fruits of the Spirit that signify true faith and therefore are sufficient for salvation.

My opinion is not found either in the lines or between the lines of these two passages. My experience is not found either in the lines or between the lines of these two passages. In fact, expand to the whole Bible, and you will fail to find one line anywhere about me or my experience. The Gospel is news. The News is external to you and your experience. You have to Hear about it. How you react to it does not have an effect on the News. The News is still the same. The same facts remain unchanged. The same historical events occurred 2000 years ago.

No, Sir, I do not agree.

--Ogre--