Author: Aaron Shafovaloff

The condemned gods of Psalm 82:6 and Mormon exaltation

LDS.org’s Becoming Like God essay situates its quotation of Psalm 82:6 in a paragraph about passages that “intimate that humans can become like God,” and that we are in a “process of approaching godliness.” The verse itself reads: “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” Mormon use of this passage is astonishing.

The gods of Psalm 82 were wicked

The psalm is one of judgment against gods who were defiant against Yahweh. They judged unjustly (82:2a), favored the wicked (82:2b), neglected the afflicted and destitute (82:3), refused to rescue the weak and needy (82:4), and were judged unto humiliation and death (82:7). Blomberg writes, “The context of [Psalm 82] refers not to anyone’s exaltation but to the judgment and downfall of those who defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked.”1 Using the addressees of Psalm 82:6 as a model for exaltation is like using the Nephilim of Genesis 6:4 as a model for sexual ethics.

Oh, how the mighty gods have fallen

The passage does not teach that we are human gods-in-embryo. Those addressed are already in the “divine council” and are “in the midst of the gods” (82:1). God addresses them in the present: “You are gods, sons of the Most High.” Neither are these permanently exalted gods who have the same “power, glory, dominion, and knowledge” that God has.2 Having misused their jurisdiction, they are condemned to die. “You will die like men, and you will fall like one of the princes” (82:7). These gods are, by both biblical and Mormon standards, not fitting candidates for exaltation.

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The Biblical way to greet your son’s first girlfriend

The first gift for Isaac’s new prospective wife: a gold nose ring.

“When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ringweighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.” (Genesis 24:22, NIV)

Sounds positive here:

“And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.” (Ezekiel 16:11-12)

My friend Edyth comments,

Customs, customs–not a command from God. The Bible presents people in all their sinfulness and strange customs.

My reply:

Too late, already encouraging my wife to exchange her finger-ring for a nose-ring!

In all seriousness, I love the raw grittiness of the Bible. 100% divinely inspired and 100% human.

Grudem, Piper, and Self-Defense

In his recent essay, “Should Christians Be Encouraged to Arm Themselves?“, John Piper writes that he would “personally counsel a Christian not to have a firearm available for such circumstances” as shooting the assailant of one’s wife.

Wayne Grudem would probably disagree. In 2013 he gave a lecture, “Self-defense and the use of firearms” (MP3, PDF outline), arguing for the legitimacy of self-defense and a generally positive view of gun ownership. It is probably material that will end up in his book on ethics, which Grudem aims to finish before Parkinson’s disease incapacitates him.

Piper favors Darrell Bock’s view of Luke 22:36-38, where the sword is “only a symbol of preparation for pressure.” For Grudem, “metaphorical interpretations do not seem persuasive.”

In Piper’s 1979 doctrinal dissertation, Love Your Enemies, one can perhaps see from his section on non-resistance (pp. 89-91, 2012 edition) the interpretation that led to his present thinking. Piper’s approach to non-resistance reminds us of his now-published approach to divorce: as Jesus laid aside concessions for divorce, he also laid aside concessions for resistance and retaliation.

Yet concerning enemy-love commands from the Sermon on the Mount, Grudem quotes from Piper’s dissertation:

“The commands … are not absolute prescriptions with no exceptions but rather are pointed, concrete illustrations of how enemy love may and should often look in the life of a disciple.” (p. 99, 2012 edition)

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Wisdom Before Gospel

Perhaps a variation of “law before gospel” is “wisdom before gospel.” We learn from Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, and the Sermon on the Mount how to live wisely, but we also learn how foolish we are.

Jesus speaks wisdom with most authority. He is Wisdom himself. He exposes our folly, forgives our foolishness, and restores us to a knowledge and fear of the Lord.

“Grace will confront you again and again with your foolishness as it connects you eternally to the one who is Wisdom.” (Paul David Tripp)

“Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3)

He’s coming hard!

One of my favorite things to hear in a roller hockey game: When the puck gets dumped into the other team’s corner and I start chasing behind their player, who is chasing after the puck. The goalie warns the other player, “You’ve got one behind you, and he’s coming hard!”

I have 20-40 pounds more than most of these young guys… and I don’t stop easily… there is a train coming!

When “Natural” is Pagan

Because God and creation are distinct, we shouldn’t feel so inclined to treat the “natural” approach to food with sacred reverence. We have dominion over nature. Food is ours to modify. The universe is not enchanted nor is there a Mother Nature.

The strong Creator/creature monotheistic belief and a “disenchanted” view of the created universe should help lead to more food science and experimentation, not less.

Added May 22, 2018, quoted by Douglas Wilson:

“’Natural childbirth’ is a very common way of refusing to apply the doctrine of the Fall, ignoring the curse that God placed upon childbearing. To say that pregnancy is not a disease is quite true. To say that giving birth is a natural process is also true also. But this overlooks the fact that it is a cursed natural process. Eve was given turmoil in the bearing of children, just as Adam was given weeds in the garden” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, pp. 74-75).

Reasons why fruits of the Spirit are not good feelings to determine truth by

First, consider the text:

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:19-23)

1. Some of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) are godly virtues precisely because they are exercised under the intensity of bad feelings. I am thinking here especially of self-control or temperance. When a man practices self-control, his challenge is to not let his feelings rule him… but his knowledge of the truth.

2. In context Paul is contrasting the works of the flesh (5:19-21) and the fruits of the Spirit. If the fruits of the Spirit were simply good feelings, we would expect the works of the flesh to be bad feelings. Instead Paul lists dispositions of the heart, orientations, actions, and results of actions — much broader than simply bad feelings.

3. Love is not a mere feeling, and sometimes love feels painful. It is a disposition of the heart that results in action. My wife does not merely feel loving toward me. She is loving toward me. Her love is more than a feeling. Indeed, sometimes she loves me when it does not feel good at all. Love does hard things that feel awful.

4. Judging people or their truth-claims based alone on whether they make you feel good contradicts the fruits goodness and faithfulness. “What you’re saying doesn’t make me feel good, therefore I am not going to believe you.” Goodness and faithfulness instead use wisdom to make a sound judgment. It pauses and considers the history and evidence. That is the loving thing to do.

5. Paul’s criteria for judging between a true and false gospel was using the measuring rod of the original message of the gospel:

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8-9)

The Sermon on the Mount as Wisdom Literature and Proverbial Tensions

“The Sermon on the Mount has been rightly categorized as wisdom literature – in fact, it is wisdom literature in the best tradition of the Old Testament. It reads very much like what we might find in various places in the Book of Proverbs.” (Bob Deffinbaugh)

In Proverbs 26:4-5 we have a famous tension requiring discernment:

Answer not a fool according to his folly,
    lest you be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
    lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. “Proverbs are principles stated in extremes.” (Deffinbaugh) Although not in the direct literary style of Proverbs 26:4-5, the Sermon on the Mount supplies us with truisms with exceptions and proverbial wisdom in tension.

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