God is a God of Order

“God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.”

1 Corinthians 14:33 ESV

This verse is quoted often in Christian homes and churches, and for good reason. It’s a helpful reminder that God doesn’t orchestrate chaos for His people. A clear distinction that sets God’s people apart is the peace and order among the body of Christ, Christians. That word confusion in the greek is akatastasias, which can mean a disturbance, commotion, or disorder. That’s how Jesus used it in Luke 21:9 when describing the future outbreak of wars and mass deaths within the imminent Roman Empire. But the apostle Paul in quoting this verse is just finishing up an important series of teachings about how God does not sow discord among His people, and he uses this language to point back to a powerful belief that ancient Jews held for thousands of years before this writing—God is a God of order.

There is an important theme that runs throughout scripture where God and the forces of darkness are juxtaposed between order and chaos. In the Torah, the prophets, and New Testament epistles chaos is the result of sin and rebellion. Where there is chaos, evil is reigning and death is winning. Then God comes in to heal and restore, and He brings order. He brings purpose, unity, structure, and harmony. ORDER.

If we go back to the very beginning of everything, we see God introducing this truth to us within the fabric of creation. In Genesis 1:2, on the first day of creation, the author describes the earth God created as “formless and void”

( ṯō-hū wā-ḇō-hū ). People often get stuck thinking about the scientific implications of an amorphous earth with whirling gases and fire, but this misses the more important element being introduced here: God is preparing a place for human beings to inhabit where they can be in close relationship with Him, but as of right now, the land is uninhabitable. It is a land of chaos, where human life cannot survive. It is a wasteland, a desolate wilderness. God is preparing a place of beauty and flourishing, but that place is not yet ready. When God is finished, the land will be “good,” and not stuck in a “not yet” state. A powerful picture is being presented here that will illuminate further the need for God’s grace and power to transform empty wildernesses into beautiful lands ready for God’s people to inhabit. God will defeat chaos and bring order.

Deuteronomy 32:9-10 plays on the same imagery,

But the Lord's portion is his people,
    Jacob his allotted heritage.

He found him in a desert land,
    and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
    he kept him as the apple of his eye.

The wasteland of the wilderness is where Israel waits before they can enter the “good” land that God is going to give them as an inheritance. The land isn’t ready yet, and neither are God’s people for that matter, but God is doing what only the One True God can do—He’s transforming darkness and emptiness into beauty and fullness.

The prophet Jeremiah uses the same imagery when describing the desolation of Israel as it goes into captivity,

I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void;
    and to the heavens, and they had no light.

Formlessness and the void are where the forces of sin and death are reigning, but God is up to something! God is bringing order and purpose to what was once chaotic and useless. God is bringing healing and rest to what was once broken and anxious. God is going to create a land of thriving where desolation and wilderness used to be the standard.

This theme is revealed in numerous other passages in the Old Testament.

Exodus 15 displays God’s triumph over evil when crashing waters destroy Egyptian soldiers (the author of Psalm 18 reflects on this).

Isaiah 17:12-14 pronounces a woe to those who rage like the raging sea.

Isaiah 27:1 shows God defeating Leviathan, the ancient near-east sea serpent who represents the depths of chaotic waters (and evil).

God is a God of order. He defeats chaos and brings everything into alignment with His good will.

This creation narrative has even more to consider. On the fourth day of creation, God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night” (1:14 ESV). The syntax of the original text reads more like, “Let the lights in the expanse be for separating…” Many scholars believe the creation account in Genesis 1:1, where God creates the “Heavens and the Earth” refers to the celestial planets, stars, moons, and suns, because of the use of the term “heavens” throughout the rest of the Old Testament implies these planets and stars. If this is the case, then God would not have recreated the lights in the heavens on the fourth day, but instead, He would have given them purpose and visibility from the earth’s vantage point for the sake of humanity, which He is soon to create. In other words, God took the celestial bodies of the universe and assigned them order and purpose by giving them cycles, seasons, and usefulness.

Two of the biggest struggles humans face in contemporary life are discovering our own usefulness and purpose in a vast world that seems to be just fine without us, and the ability to fulfill that purpose and give structure and parameters to it. The National Library of Medicine stated,

Life purpose was significantly associated with all-cause mortality… A growing body of literature suggests that having a strong sense of purpose in life improves physical and mental health and enhances overall quality of life.

Simply put, purpose comes from order, and order comes from God, and without order, we are swimming in chaotic territory where darkness and evil have the upper hand. No wonder lacking purpose leads to poor quality of life. God has been shouting this to us from the rooftops ever since Genesis!

Wherever you see a lack of order, question it. If it is in your own life, challenge it. The enemy would love to have little pools of chaos in your life. But God wants to bring order to that chaos. God wants to establish plans and seasons, purposes and boundaries, where He structures your heart, mind, and priorities.

Order defeats chaos. Light defeats darkness. God defeats evil.

This is why Paul so strongly implores the Corinthian church for 14 chapters about how they need to squash discordant attitudes and the in-fighting in their churches. Their lack of unity produced chaos, and that chaos is where devils and darkness have space to work on us.

When you sense disunity and friction among Christians, don’t shrug it off, and don’t make excuses for it. Do the hard work of pursuing unity, because unity is a byproduct of order, and the author of order is God Himself!

Meet Jesus at the Table

One of the greatest things I’ve come to appreciate about Luke’s gospel account is his masterful use of storytelling to establish truths instead of blanket factual statements. Luke creates scenes that carry theological implications, and a major recurring scene is that around dining, or being seated at a table.

Luke powerfully employs the image of dining at a table as a metaphor for redeeming mankind and bringing us into communion with God once again.

Jesus calls Levi, a sinner, to repentance at a table at his house (5:27-32).

He forgives the sinful woman while at a Pharisee’s dining table (7:36-50).

He satisfies more than 5000 individuals with a miraculous meal (9:10-17).

He heals a man with dropsy while at a table banquet (14:1-24).

He is known as one who “receives sinners and eats with them” (15:2).

He redeems Zacchaeus, a sinner, at his house at the table (19:1-10).

This realization reaches its culmination at the last supper. Jesus reclines at the table in a furnished upper room, where they all should have partaken in passover together. Instead Jesus chooses to personally abstain from eating the passover meal (22:16) and introduces the bread as his broken body and the cup poured out as his spilled blood to signify that he would suffer for their gain. Jesus would bring redemption to those sitting at the table with him, but it wouldn’t come from their passover lamb, it would cost significantly more. Historically, Jesus’ disciples would have had their own cups to drink from, so Jesus’ passing of his cup would have made a profound impression: Doing so was a symbol of entering into a communion relationship with someone through good times and bad.

Luke portrays the table as a place where human need meets divine grace. It is where the presence of Jesus transforms the sad remembrance of things past into the glorious promise of things to come.

A Scholar named Eduard Schweizer reminds us:

In contrast to all other religious communities of their time, the early Christians had no temple, no statues, no priests, no special cult; the only thing visible was a table with a meal around which they came together every week. It was the continuation of the table fellowship of Jesus, and especially of that meal on the last evening together. It was a definitive gift from God and a central manifestation of the truth the church brought to the world.

Human beings are broken beings, but they no longer feel their brokenness when seated at the table with Jesus. Forgiveness, acceptance, and mercy for sinners is displayed across the fellowship table with Jesus. The table is where communion with God happens. At the table we remember what God has done at the Exodus, what He does for us now through the work of the cross, and what He will do for us at the marriage supper of the lamb as we have communion with him eternally after being raised with him.

This is one of many reasons why Paul had to correct the abuses of communion among the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 11:17-34). Meal gatherings were still suffering from theatrical showcases of wealth and social status. Superiority and class distinctions overshadowed the significance of how Christ actually destroyed those barriers by making everyone equal when they sat at his table: All people are now only defined as sinners saved by his sacrifice once they sit at his table.

The table has historically been a metaphor for intimacy and communion with others, and Jesus invites us to sit at his table. Reflect on these thoughts the next time you’re sitting at a table. Remember how beautiful God’s acceptance is because of the mercy He poured out so you could always have a seat at His table.

God’s Promises in Unlikely Places

Admit it. There are sections of the Bible that you dread reading because the immediate value of the scripture passage is not apparent, so you glaze over it, or skip it altogether. Genealogies and levitical laws are the most common of these passages. We know they exist for a reason, but do I want to be that person who figures out what that reason is? I’ll let some bible scholar do that and appreciate John 3:16 over here.

Well, I’d like to highlight one of these passages for you and share something amazing from it. You know all those gross chapters in the Book of Leviticus where God writes commands that deal with animal blood, food laws, and women waiting outside the camp after childbirth?

There are incredible promises for your future in those chapters.

What?! Crazy right? But watch this.

In Leviticus Chapter 12, after a woman gives birth to a child, she shall “not touch any consecrated thing nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over.” (12:4) Passages like this can be difficult to read because we’re all subject to evolutionary social morality. This just sounds cruel.

But an important thing to understand about “purification” in the Old Testament is that it is not dealing with vague spiritual taboos from thousands of years ago. It deals specifically with worship. If a person is “unclean,” they are removed from God’s holy presence, and they cannot do what they were created to do, worship and enjoy God’s intimate presence, until they are somehow made clean again.

This isn’t just about blood and rituals. Stick with me here.

There is a remarkable similarity between the middle chapters of Leviticus and the beginning of Genesis, where God creates all things. In the creation account, Adam and Eve are in the garden, spending intimate time in worship with God (Genesis 1-2). As soon as they sin, they are removed from the garden (Gen 3:6-7; 23-24) and thus removed from God’s presence, and cannot worship Him intimately. There is remarkable similarity in the wording of these passages. When we are “unclean,” we are unable to be with God in true worship, until something makes us clean again. Adam and Eve could not worship God in the garden, and Israel cannot worship God in His tabernacle. Both must be made clean again. Both locations, the garden, and the tabernacle symbolize God’s presence with humans, and in both places, God rejects human presence due to uncleanliness. The goal of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 is the worship of God. The goal of the laws in Leviticus 11 and 12 is the worship of God as well.

In Genesis 1 and 2, God creates animals, birds, sea creatures, creeping creatures, and then humanity. In Leviticus 11 and 12, God deals with sacrifices and food preparation concerning animals, then birds, then sea creatures, then rituals regarding humanity.

The Levitical Laws are revealed in the same manner the Creation Account in Genesis is revealed. Why?

Because the same blessings God granted us in creation He promises to restore to us in covenant!

This passage is intentionally written to show God’s promise to restore humanity in relationship with Him through cleansing. The author of these books wrote this because God always planned to make us clean again and allow us to worship Him like we were destined to from the beginning! Just as God purposefully created a beautiful world where we could spend time with Him, so He purposefully crafts a covenant where we can be restored to Him through purification.

So here we are in Leviticus, talking about bloody childbirth (literally) and how it causes one to be unclean. But the word for childbirth in Leviticus 12:2 in Hebrew is “seed,” and it’s the same word used in Genesis 3:15, where God promises to put enmity between the serpent and future human children. In other words, God promises to eventually overcome evil through the “seed” of humanity, which will trample upon the head of the serpent. God’s promise to fix what is broken will come through human pregnancy, which will one day result in the purification of all mankind, restoring their intimate dwelling with God. It is from this same promise that God purifies the entire world through a human, Jesus Christ, through blood sacrifice on the cross, making us, the unclean, clean again, and able to enter into the presence of God unashamed and free to worship Him, just as we were designed to do from the beginning of creation.

The similarities continue in Leviticus when God commands cleansing laws concerning skin issues and diseases (Leviticus 13-14). God also covers the shame of Adam and Eve after their sinful fall using animal hides (literally skins in Hebrew; Genesis 3:21). I won’t go further into those passages, but look them up for yourself and recognize the parallels between Genesis’s early chapters and Leviticus.

The bottom line is that God’s promise to restore you and keep you in close relationship with Him is firmly rooted throughout the Bible. Hold fast to them. Cling to them. Don’t let anyone try to remove them from your heart.

This small, simple passage about ritual purification regarding childbirth is a promise that echoes throughout all of eternity that God will make us, the rebellious, unclean, sinful wretches that we are, purified and able to enter into His presence once again.

Don’t rush through these chapters in the Bible. They may seem odd and out of place in our contemporary context, but there are powerful promises in them that reveal the hope of a good God who redeems His beloved creation, you and me.

Sexual Immorality, the Human Body, and Community Holiness.

Paul’s first address to the church in Corinth articulates a unique theology of the human body and its purposes in God’s inaugurated kingdom on earth. In examining 1st Corinthians 6:12-20,  Paul addresses boundaries and abuses of freedom in the Christian life (6:12-13), God’s purpose for the human body in Christ (VS 14-20), the sinful practice of sexual immorality against both the body and the Lord (VS 14-18), and communal holiness for the collective church as Christ’s body (15-20). This paper will endeavor to explain and support the position that Paul’s theology of the human body, explicitly expressed and supported in this passage, was unique in Paul’s day and is coherent and consistent within greater Pauline literature. It will begin by addressing the wider issue at stake in Paul’s entire letter to the Corinthians.