Fourth Tuesday in Lent
Lectionary texts:
OT: Jeremiah 31:31-34
NT: John 12:1-8
I am thinking about a new project for me, and for you as well. I am thinking about writing/editing a Daily Office. The earliest I might complete such an undertaking would be in the Season after Pentecost, so it would be for that long season. My question for you is, would you be interested in using it? I have mentioned the Daily Office often in this blog. I know that many of you do not have ready access to any of the Daily Offices out there. Don't worry, you would not have to take a vow to read it every day. It would be a "use it when you want." I would ask for your comments as I worked through it and incorporate your good ideas as I revised. If you are interested, please say so in the comments section or send me an email. You need say no more than, "I'm interested." It's totally okay if you're not interested. I hope for enough interest in this project to make it a worthwhile endeavor. I'll talk more about this on Friday.
Today we return to our Acts Bible Study. Please read Acts 16:30-34.
Paul has dissuaded the Philippian jailer from suicide. The jailer has witnessed the power of God. When he says, "What must I do to be saved?," he may have in mind--saved from being executed by his superiors for not stopping the jailbreak. Paul has in mind salvation from sin. In this case it's both.
Paul responds, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household" (italics mine).
Extensive studies have been done on the word household (oikos in Greek). NT scholars have combed its usage in the entire vast corpus of Greek literature. The magnificent computer resource Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) has made this possible. It contains every work in the Greek language from 800 BC through 1500 AD, thousands of writings, with complete word search and concordance capabilities.
The word oikos means everyone who lives in the same house: parents, children, infants, grandparents and othr extended family relatives, and servants.
Paul here is telling the jailer that if he believes in Jesus Christ, salvation comes upon not only him but on his whole family and servants, if they have any. We find this consistent throughout early Christianity. Salvation is a family thing, not an individualistic, one person with God thing. We saw this earlier with the family of Cornelius in Acts 10. It also appears in 1 Corinthians 1 and 7 and is implied elsewhere.
These facts go dramatically against the individualistic understanding of salvation that we find among modern day evangelicals, Southern Baptists, and many non-denominational churches.
In verse 33 Luke says that the jailer "and his entire family" were baptized. That means that if there were a baby or a small child in the family, he or she was baptized that night. So much for the case against infant baptism.
When the great Sunday comes when we can all worship together in person in our own churches, I hope there will be a flood of baptisms.
Lord Jesus of our salvation,
We believe in You. Thanks, blessings, praises to You for being our salvation, ours and our whole family's.
Amen.
Faithfully,
Christian
3 comments:
I would be interested in exploring your Daily Office.
I want to do the Daily Office! That always makes me think of Charles doing the Daily Office first thing in the morning in Susan Howatch. You are becoming a Susan Howatch character.
And do you believe in infant baptism now?
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