Tag Archive for: Bible

Announcing our Partnership with Seminary Now

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We’re so excited to announce our partnership with Seminary Now, a new on-demand streaming video platform that provides exclusive biblical training courses from today’s leading teachers, ministry practitioners, and authors.

The platform will feature courses from IFBR’s leading voices, starting with Glenn Paauw in the fall. Since we are a Seminary Now partner, you can receive a limited-time 20% discount on your subscription by entering code IFBR20 at checkout.

Like Netflix or Masterclass, subscribers get unlimited access to all courses — available on smart phone, tablet, and TV devices. The courses are divided into short 12-minute videos so you can learn at your own pace. Join today and access exclusive content from teachers and authors including Scot McKnight, John Walton, Brenda Salter McNeil, Michael Bird and many others.

We have joined InterVarsity Press, Northern Seminary, Missio Alliance, and many others in this new partnership. We’re honored be part of this network of top-notch organizations creating excellent content for you and your ministry. Check it out and start your free trial today.

3 Takeaways from ‘State of the Bible 2020’

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American Bible Society and Barna Group recently released their 10th annual State of the Bible report exploring various trends in American spirituality and Bible engagement. The 2020 report is a unique edition which reveals two sets of survey data collected in January and June, before and after COVID-19 upended life as we know it.

The special circumstances around the 2020 report shed some light on important realities regarding the Bible in America. Here are 3 takeaways we found:

Things Aren’t Good

Not exactly breaking news, but it’s worth saying. 35% of Americans say they never read the Bible, which is up from 25% at the report’s inception in 2011. Ten percent in nine years. 60% of Americans read the Bible less than five times per year.

“Despite nearly every individual in the U.S. having access to the Bible, engagement has decreased. That’s been a consistent trend over the past few years, and the trend has accelerated since January 2020 throughout the pandemic,” said ABS president and CEO Bob Briggs.

The data makes it clear: the magical thinking that Bible Access equals Bible Engagement is misguided. Reading, understanding, and immersion in the text don’t happen automatically.

Initial Bible Curiosity Didn’t Last

For years, Barna’s research has shown that the majority of Americans wish they read the Bible more. A Lifeway Research study revealed that the top two reasons people claimed for their lack of Bible reading were “I don’t prioritize it” and “I don’t have time.” Maybe the dire situation of the pandemic and the limited activities during stay-at-home orders could lead people to open up the Word. You can only watch so much Netflix, right?

In the early days of COVID-19, it looked like that could actually happen. As uncertainty swirled and people adjusted to the difficult realities of isolation, many turned to the Bible as a source of hope. Bible sales surged.

Yet for all the extra Bible sales, and despite many people having more free time on their hands because of quarantine, unemployment, and other factors, Bible engagement actually declined between January and June.

Pandemic Change in Scripture Engagement - ABS/Barna
Source: State of the Bible 2020 / ABS and Barna Group

What actually happened in the days and weeks after the shiny new Bibles arrived in the mail? What kinds of practices and habits did people try? Did they feel equipped with a good understanding of how to read the Bible? Did they feel confident or overwhelmed? Now there’s some survey data we’d be interested in seeing.

Community Strengthens Bible Engagement

“To increase Scripture engagement, we must increase relational connections with one another through the church,” said ABS director of ministry intelligence John Farquhar Plake. “The pandemic—and now this survey—have shown that when relational church engagement goes up, so does Scripture engagement, but when it goes down, Scripture engagement drops with it.”

Dr. Plake is echoing what we’ve found from over a decade of creating and facilitating community Bible reading experiences like Immerse. As much as Bible reading has morphed into a solo sport in the modern era, the fact remains that the Bible has always been a book meant for communities. People simply struggle to read and understand it on their own. More than half, in fact.

Many churches were understandably in survival mode during the early months of the pandemic, frantically setting up online services and adapting to serve a variety of unforeseen needs within their congregations.

But it’s time to settle in for the long haul. Merely streaming services won’t cut it. One in three practicing Christians has stopped attending church during COVID-19, including 50% of Millennials.

Spending time in the Bible remains far and away the #1 catalyst for spiritual growth, but it’s clear that people struggle when left to attempt it by themselves. Pastors need to facilitate ways for small communities to gather around the Word to read and discuss it together.

If you’re looking for a way to stay connected with your small group, family, neighbors, or friends during these hard times, check out Immerse From Home, a free digital resource we created to help communities get started with Bible Book Clubs via Zoom. Or simply jump in and start reading the entire New Testament in community with Immerse: Messiah.

The Satan and The Law That Enslaves (Powers & Principalities, Pt. 3)

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The contention of this series of articles is that the Bible is set in the land of wild things. That is, the Bible is more fantastical—beautiful, dangerous, and strange—than we give it credit for. What we incorrectly call the natural and the supernatural, as if they are distinct and isolated realms, are actually part of a single, fascinating, and intertwined world. In the Bible, heaven and earth constantly interact and are alive with all kinds of creatures, forces, and powers—both seen and unseen.

What are these powers? What do they do in the world? How do they operate? How do they relate to God, to humans, and to the story of rescue and redemption the Bible tells? It’s past time we re-engage the Bible’s overlooked story of the powers. The six articles cover the following major biblical topics:

  1. Ladies and Gentlemen, Meet the Powers
  2. The World-Rulers of this Darkness
  3. The Satan and The Law That Enslaves
  4. The Bondage of Creation
  5. Jesus’ Victory Over the Powers
  6. The Powers and the People of Jesus Today

* I am especially indebted to G. B. Caird’s small book Principalities and Powers for the main outline of this series (based on his Chancellor’s Lectures in 1954 at Queen’s University).

The Satan and The Law That Enslaves

We’ve already seen that the Bible testifies to the enslaving rule of the world by spiritual powers who’ve turned false. Created by God and meant to serve his good purposes, they’ve instead become potent agents for evil. The First Testament clearly correlates the rule of the powers to the waywardness of the nations.

But what about Israel? Are God’s people exempt from the influence and misdirected rule of the powers that is so devastating for the Gentile nations? What does the story say?

To answer these questions we must first step back and take a brief look at one of the powers in particular: Ha satan, the Great Accuser, our legal adversary whose title eventually became his name.

He is portrayed in the opening of the book of Job as having full access to the heavenly council. He appears to be one of the “gods” or “sons of Elohim,” reporting on how God’s creatures are doing vis-á-vis God’s law.

But as always in the Bible, the story progresses and we learn more. The Accuser is not neutral. He takes pleasure in hauling sinners into the divine court, yet that is not enough for him.

Satan moves on from the role of prosecutor to that of tempter. He actively incites people toward sin which he can then use as charges against them. The author of Chronicles reports that it is Satan who prompts King David to take a census to measure the strength of his army. Satan aggressively confronts and tempts Jesus right at the launch of his kingdom ministry, attempting to derail it.

The growth of Satan’s job description continues. In the gospels we hear Jesus saying that a woman who was crippled had in fact been bound by Satan for eighteen years. Paul speaks of handing a man over to Satan “for the destruction of his flesh.” The book of Hebrews says that it is the Great Accuser who holds the power of death. And Revelation comes right out and names him “the Destroyer.” Tempting and accusing is not sufficient for him. Satan also seeks to carry out the punishment on the guilty.

Entrap. Bring charges. Destroy.

Sounds horrible, and it is, but what does it have to do with the story of Israel and the powers?

Slaves to the Law

The relationship to Israel’s story is one of a parallel development, and the connection in the first place lies with the angels and the role of Torah. The Torah originates with God, and Paul strongly affirms that it is holy, righteous, and good. The problem is not with the law itself.

According to the New Testament (though we don’t hear about it in the First Testament), it was the angels who mediated the giving of the law to Israel. Galatians and Hebrews both affirm that the law was put into effect through angels. They apparently were made to function as intermediaries and guardians of Torah.

Strangely, under this guardianship the law ends up being used in a way that doesn’t curb sin but rather aggravates it. Torah ends up stimulating the very thing it prohibits. We see the Apostle Paul wrestling with this paradox in his letters to the Romans and the Galatians.* Paul had been a Pharisee, zealous in his enforcement of Torah and convinced that a stricter adherence to it was the path to restoration for Israel.

But it didn’t happen.

Instead, Paul says that Torah was increasing the amount of pain and brokenness in the world. The law actually gives more power to the sin in us, so that when sin sees the prohibition, it jumps at the chance to do wrong. The law ends up tempting people to sin, then it empowers sin, and finally accuses and condemns them when they do sin.

Sound familiar? The law in Israel has become like ha satan, humanity’s great accuser before God. The law does not function with the power to heal or restore, only to condemn. Israel’s Torah, though given by God, is transformed into a destructive force, all because of the power of sin in us. The situation drives Paul to cry out in desperation: Who can save us from these bodies of death?

This is why Paul can say that Israel under Torah is actually in slavery to the elemental spiritual forces of the world. He ends up presenting the law, sin, and death as a trio of closely aligned powers working to oppose God’s saving purposes. This triumvirate of destruction has come to hold Israel in bondage.

We learn that even something holy and good, originating from God, can become a force for evil when isolated from God’s larger intentions for the life of his creation. If this can happen to Torah, it can happen to anything that we wrongly absolutize—nation, race, family, an economic system, or any other gift we find or fashion within the good creation.

If this can happen to Torah, it can happen to anything that we wrongly absolutize

Paul writes that Torah was always meant to be partial and temporary, governing the people of Israel like an underage child. But under the influence of the powers, Israel elevated it to something supreme and eternal.

A New Way

When we come to the gospel accounts of the ministry of Jesus this is exactly how we see the law functioning, which is why Jesus opposes the Pharisees and teachers of the law. The law is operating in first-century Israel in a way that works against human flourishing. It divides, intimidates, condemns, and excludes people. Jesus is not working against Torah itself, but the way Torah is being used to interfere with God’s gracious and restorative purposes. Israel’s leaders are using the law like a weapon.

Jesus comes announcing the real intention of Israel’s God: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

So here we are: the wild things—the powers who have overtaken the world—have led all of humanity, Jew and Gentile alike, into utter disaster. Both groups have come under the sway of fallen angelic guardians, and in both cases we find humanity in rebellion to the ways of the Creator. The nations worship idols of many types, ancient and modern. They are in league with sin and death. Israel has misused God’s gift of the law and so ends up in service to the same ruinous forces.

So God sends his Son to bring the divine reign and reestablish the real purpose for creation.

Then we watch in horror as the foremost world empire, along with God’s own people—Rome and Israel—conspire together in blindness and rebellion to crucify the Son of Man.

Who killed Jesus? Technically it was Roman soldiers, but Herod, Caiaphas and Pilate were directing this show. Paul tells us, however, that more deeply still it was the spiritual rulers of this age who made sure Jesus was executed. We can see here, as clearly as anywhere, how human authorities and the spiritual forces of evil can both be working at the same time and in the same events.

God sent Israel as his agent to bring the world from curse to blessing. God then sent his own Son to bring Israel back to its founding purpose. So what happens when the powers prevail upon both Israel and the nations to fight against God’s ultimate mission in the Messiah?

The secret wisdom of God working in Christ surprises everyone involved.

But before we unpack this decisive move of God within the story, we must turn to one more chapter on the devastating work of the powers. We’re not yet done unveiling all that the powers have done, for the damage goes deeper still.

Part 4: The Bondage of Creation >>>

*For Paul and his not-uncomplicated view of Torah, see especially Romans 2–7 and Galatians 3–4.

Video: How the Bible’s Story Helps Us Talk About Racism

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How does the Bible speak into our current cultural moment? What does the story’s trajectory reveal about God’s concern for overcoming systemic injustice?

On June 25th we hosted a free webinar with panelists Dominique Gilliard, Michelle Sanchez, and Fr. Steve Delaney to discuss how how the Scriptures can inform our growing national discussion on racism. By understanding God’s mission to set things right in the world, we can participate in his work toward restoration and love.

How the Bible Helps Us Talk About Racism - Dominique Gilliard, Michelle Sanchez, Fr. Steve Delaney

Click here to view the Scripture passages and additional resources compiled by the Evangelical Covenant Church, which Michelle recommends during the conversation.

  • Dominique Gilliard serves as Director of Racial Righteousness and Reconciliation for the Love Mercy Do Justice initiative of the Evangelical Covenant Church. He is also the author of Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores
  • Michelle Sanchez serves as Executive Minister of Make and Deepen Disciples for the Evangelical Covenant Church
  • Fr. Steve Delaney is an Anglican priest serving as a chaplain in the US Army stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC

The World-Rulers of this Darkness (Powers and Principalities, Pt. 2)

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This series of articles contends that the Bible is set in the land of wild things. That is, the Bible is more fantastical—beautiful, dangerous, and strange—than we give it credit for. What we incorrectly call the natural and the supernatural, as if they are distinct and isolated realms, are actually part of a single, fascinating, and intertwined world. In the Bible, heaven and earth are constantly interacting and alive with all kinds of creatures, forces, and powers—both seen and unseen.

What are these powers? What do they do in the world? How do they operate? How do they relate to God, to humans, and to the story of rescue and redemption the Bible tells? It’s past time we re-engage the Bible’s overlooked story of the powers. The six articles cover the following major biblical topics:

  1. Ladies and Gentlemen, Meet the Powers
  2. The World-Rulers of this Darkness
  3. The Satan and The Law That Enslaves
  4. The Bondage of Creation
  5. Jesus’ Victory Over the Powers
  6. The Powers and the People of Jesus Today

* I am especially indebted to G. B. Caird’s small book Principalities and Powers for the main outline of this series (based on his Chancellor’s Lectures in 1954 at Queen’s University).

What’s wrong with the world?

The biblical answer: it’s complicated.

Humans have certainly lost their way. The overt story of the Bible is about divine image-bearers refusing to fully step into their fundamental vocation. Humans, made to reflect God’s purposes for the world, have instead become agents of creation’s undoing. This is central.

But there’s more. Alongside the storyline of people behaving badly there is one about another group of powerful creatures who’ve gone wrong. These two storylines are deeply intertwined and overlapping, each one influencing the other.

Two passages from the Psalms help us get our bearings on these other creatures, the powers:

The heavens will acclaim Your wonder, O Lord,
   Your faithfulness, too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies can compare to the Lord,
   who can be like the Lord among the sons of the gods?
A God held in awe in the council of the holy,
   mighty and fearsome above all his surroundings.
Lord, God of Armies, who is like You,
   powerful Yah, with your faithfulness round You?
-from Psalm 89 (The Hebrew Bible, Robert Alter)

These “sons of the gods,” these “armies” and “holy ones,” constitute the heavenly council or assembly. They are clearly powerful spiritual beings, yet they are not equal to the Lord who is mighty and wonderful above them.

The collection of psalms about God’s enthronement as High King (Psalms 95-99) regularly reference the one true God’s place above all other gods. The gods of the nations are but idols, falsely claiming that they are due worship. Yahweh alone is truly Lord Sabaoth, the Lord over the Hosts.

But then we learn another crucial piece of information:

God takes His stand in the divine assembly,
   in the midst of the gods He renders judgment.
“How long will you judge dishonestly,
   and show favor to the wicked?
Do justice to the poor and the orphan.
   Vindicate the lowly and the wretched.
Free the poor and the needy,
   from the hand of the wicked save them.
. . . As for Me, I had thought you were gods,
   and the sons of the Most High were you all.
Yet indeed like humans you shall die,
   and like one of the princes, fall.”
-from Psalm 82 (The Hebrew Bible, Alter)

Wait a minute. Aren’t humans the ones who judge dishonestly and neglect the poor? Isn’t it wicked human rulers who fail to care for the needy and in fact oppress them?

Again and again the prophets enter charges against people failing to do justice. Yet here we see God directly assigning blame to the world’s spiritual powers for the injustices that takes place on earth. He renders judgment against them, even saying these gods will die.

Fallen humans are responsible for the world’s evil.

Fallen spiritual powers are responsible for the world’s evil.

The Bible says “Yes” to both of these statements.

The Deep Connection Between Humans and Powers

It helps to put the biblical pieces together to understand how this works. In Daniel 10–12 we see an angel responding to Daniel’s fasting and mourning with a crucial message. “The prince of the kingdom of Persia” and “the prince of Greece” are in active warfare against this angel and also against “Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.” Angelic powers and nations go together – indeed, they seem bound together in some essential way.

We know from the regular prophetic denunciations against injustice that human institutions and systems are implicated, including such things as the way the law courts work and how economic structures function to favor the rich and harm the poor. So the entire realm of human cultural power is now tied to dark spiritual powers.

This, in turn, leads the Lord of the heavenly council to combine his judgments against both parties. So in Isaiah we see Yahweh showing up with punishment on his mind:

On that day the Lord will punish
   the host of heaven, in heaven,
   and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
They will be gathered together
   as prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
   and after many days they will be punished.
-from Isaiah 24 (RSV)

Notice the strong emphasis on one party working in heaven, while the other operates on the earth. They are operating in different, but connected, realms. Destructive evil is their joint accomplishment.

The running of the world—the world in rebellion to God—is not merely in the hands of presidents, prime ministers, and kings. It is equally governed by the angelic rulers of the heavenly assembly, the world-rulers of this darkness.

The biblical evidence points toward created angelic beings who were given their authority by the Creator. They were meant to serve under God and facilitate his purposes for a well-ordered world. Their delegated rule was misdirected, however, particularly when they began to accept the idolatrous worship of humans. They became powerful forces for evil, for ruining God’s good creation.

Daniel has visions of wicked kings on earth who appear as terrible beasts coming up out of the sea (the regular home of chaos monsters in the Bible). These human kingdoms, working in concert with the powers, are represented as beasts precisely because they act in subhuman ways. This is another piece of biblical wisdom: when humans or angels seek to be more than they were created to be, they always end up being less.

When humans or angels seek to be more than they were created to be, they always end up being less.

It is perfectly appropriate, then, that the one who defeats these proud but false rulers is “one like a son of man.” A truly human one will appear, and as the representative of his now-restored people, he will be given “dominion and glory and kingdom” (Daniel 7).

Humans were made to rule as God’s deputies in the world. So God is determined that the powers be overcome and his people receive the gift of their own rule back again.

The First Testament testifies to spiritual powers which have turned false and enslaved the world. They disrupt God’s intentions for the functioning and flourishing of the world according to true justice. They interfere with the intended role of God’s image-bearers. The names and titles of these powers move straight from the First into the New Testament via the Greek translation of the ancient Scriptures, showing that these are exactly the same powers as before.

So the story awaits a new announcement, some major turning point within this narrative of God and his world. Those under the reign of the dark lords surely need some good news for a change. Something like the arrival of “one like a son of man.”

Part 3: The Satan and the Law that Enslaves >>>