The Book of Leviticus is a book of good news because it teaches the forgiveness of sins through the appointed blood of atonement. Not that the blood of bulls and goats actually takes away sins (cf. Heb 10:4), but it points us to the blood that does -- that of the whole and spotless lamb Jesus Christ. The book shows that your sins cannot be atoned through the shedding of your own blood but only through the shedding of this blood. Offering a sacrifice was not a good work, but an ordinary means of grace. The way of salvation is narrow and it is not people-initiated but comes from God. All ancient peoples knew that they needed atonement, as their sacrificial systems showed, but salvation is from the Jews and in particular is from the priest-sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth. And His sacrifice is applied through faith. Why did the true people of God offer sacrifices? Because they believed the promise of God to forgive sins and now we preach the forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name.

The nation of Israel was to be set apart as a holy nation both morally and outwardly. The distinctions between clean and unclean animals demonstrated the distinction between the nation of Israel and the Gentiles. While election in Christ is still good news, just as this showed the election of Israel among the nations, we are no longer set apart in such external things because forgiveness of sins is now proclaimed to all nations in Jesus Christ. And the elect of every nation have the Spirit, setting us apart starting with our hearts. Demands that Christians preserve a particular culture whether forty years old or four hundred years old or whatever have missed this change in what the good news looks like and because they are a man-made way of salvation are dangerous.

And the Holiness Code consists of two chiasms. The first concentrates on loving your neighbor as yourself and the second on loving God with all of your heart and soul. The fact that the former includes laws about loving God and the latter laws about loving neighbors shows that one cannot separate these ideas. And yet it is very clear that the former section stresses loving neighbors and aliens with Lev 19 at the center and the latter section on loving God with the blasphemy case at the center. And there is a chapter on sacrifices before each chiasm. The first time dealing with sacrifices alone and the second time before the loving God section on sacrifices and priests (where the priests are described as sacrifices -- need to be well and whole). Given these and other regulations that no longer continue in the Holiness Code, the code is a portion of Scripture that is much neglected. And yet this code is incredibly helpful in thinking through how we show our gratitude to God for the forgiveness of our sins due to the work of the priest-sacrifice Jesus Christ. And the appendix on sacrifices and oaths is very helpful for people to contemplate today given that oaths are very lightly taken at present.

Labels: atonement of sins, clean, faith, holiness code, leviticus, ordinary means of grace, priest, sacrifice, thanksgiving, unclean, way of salvation

First and foremost it is important to observe that the giving of the law comes after the Exodus salvation event. Thus under the Old and New Covenants a major reason for the law is to know how to display an attitude of gratitude for salvation. The people are not given the law in order to earn salvation. They were saved by what God did for them. Thus the theme: "You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians" (Exo 19:4). Their response is to obey his law so that they may be used to the end God desires. That is, as a kingdom of priests to intercede for the nations the way that Moses intercedes for Israel (Exo 19:5, cf. 1 Peter 2:4-10). Chapter 19 is the prelude to and preparation for the giving of the Ten Commandments.

The people are being set apart as the treasured possession of God among the nations upon the condition of obedience (Exo 19:5). Here we are to see similarity with the conditional covenant with Abraham (see discussion on Book Six). This is a conditional covenant they ultimately would not keep, but the unconditional covenant with Abraham would continue. Like they would later when ratifying the covenant (i.e. Josh 24:18), the people here (Exo 19:8) and later in this section (Exo 24:3, 7) say that they will do all the words of the LORD.

Note the context of the giving of the Ten Commandments. God is coming down in a thick cloud onto the mountain. The people hear the Ten Commandments from God speaking from heaven. Therefore, the people had to prepare spiritually -- ritually for his coming. Anyone who touches the mountain without authorization from God will die (Exo 19:12). The people stand at the foot of the mountain to meet God and hear the Ten Commandments (Exo 19:17). The sound of the LORD is thunder -- the sound of a huge army. This reminds us of the terror of The Day back in Genesis 3 when God came down on Mount Eden. Only Moses and Aaron are able to go up on the mountain at this point. And God spoke. The people will respond by noting their need for a mediator (Exo 20:19).

And God establishes the covenant -- a treaty with his vassal nation. It follows the normal ancient near eastern treaty format. God introduces himself and gives a historical prologue (Exo 20:2). And then lays out the ten stipulations of the covenant. This is a summary of the law. The Reformed understanding of how to number the commandments highlights idolatry (Exo 20:4-6) as a separate commandment from the first (Exo 20:3). Thus the commandment concerning idolatry deals with how we worship whereas the first commandment concerns who we worship. As a summary of the laws regarding how we worship, this is the most serious example. But it represents all of the regulations of worship in Scripture. This shows why Reformed theology is concerned that we only worship God as He has revealed that He desires to be worshiped in His word. Other traditions have to divide up the commandment on coveting to count to ten and are more open to including man-made traditions in worship. It is significant that there are TEN -- the number of fullness.

These commandments point us back to the salvation from Egypt and to creation. These commandments are a summary of the moral law of the covenant of creation. That the first commandment (Exo 20:3) was in force at the time of creation is beyond dispute. The Westminster Standards note that "before me" (Exo 20:3) means in the presence of the true God. The plagues and Exodus event showed that the LORD was greater than all other gods. The LORD is the God who created the heavens and the earth (Gen 2:4). The second commandment (Exo 20:4-6) points us to creation because humankind is made in the image of God (Gen 1:27). This is why the LORD could come as a person -- Jesus. This is why we are not to make images of God. Note the contrast of generations under curse (three and four) with those showing loyal-love (thousands) (Exo 20:5-6).

I will not demonstrate each commandment in this manner, but know that all of them point us back to creation. The Ten Commandments, as related here in Exodus, does this explicitly with the Sabbath ("for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea..." Exo 20:11). The next commandment points us forward to the Promised Land (Exo 20:12). These are the conditional covenant stipulations for remaining in the land as a kingdom of priests. We have shown elsewhere that the commandment regarding adultery arises from creation. The commandment regarding murder points us to the same issues as the second commandment -- we are made in the image of God.

The Book of the Covenant (Exo 20:22-23:19) follows the Ten Commandments. And the theme is that the people have seen that the LORD spoke to them from heaven (Exo 20:22). Enns notes in his commentary (pp.440-441) that the Book follows a pattern beginning with worship (Exo 20:22-26), then social responsibility (Exo 21:1-22:17), then worship and social responsibility (Exo 22:18-23:19). These laws are not exhaustive but representative of the legal code of Israel. They cover such things as (worship) idols and altars, (social responsibility) slavery, injuring others, injuries from animals, and personal property. And the final section with both alternates worship, social responsibility, worship, social responsibility, worship (note that it begins and ends with worship). Loving God and loving your neighbor are thus shown to be intricately related. The last social responsibility section ends with the law about not oppressing a sojourner because you were sojourners in Egypt (Exo 23:9).

Then the text changes focus to the conquest of the Promised Land (Exo 23:20-33). The primary reason for destroying the people in the land is so that they will not cause Israel to sin and thus keep Israel from being a blessing to the nations. Sending terror before Israel and hornets before Israel are parallel ideas (Exo 23:27-28). These are not literal hornets -- the idea is that the people will stand in dread of invading Israel.

And this section ends with the seventy (ten times seven) elders of Israel hearing the Book of the Covenant and seeing God on the mountain (Exo 24:10) and having a covenant meal together (Exo 24:11). Almost makes one think of Passover as the unconditional covenant meal and this meal on the mountain as the conditional covenant meal. And Moses went up on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments in written form. There is a Sabbath pattern (Exo 24:16) and Moses was on the mountain for a highly significant forty days and forty nights (Exo 24:18). Temptation time.

Labels: book of the covenant, exodus, idolatry, moses, promised land, salvation, ten commandments, thanksgiving, worship

Elders (including the teaching elder often called the pastor) and deacons are the Spiritual leaders of the church. The elders lead the church in word ministries and the deacons lead the church in deed ministries. Even among the elders there is a division of labor between the teaching elder(s) and the ruling elders, but both groups of elders are Spiritual leaders who lead in word ministries.

Jesus was the perfect elder and deacon: He was "a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people" (Luke 24:19). His words interpreted his works. Both point to who He was and what He was doing. Our words and works also should point people to Jesus.

As a division of labor - elders focus on leading the church in word ministries and deacons focus on leading the church in deed ministries. But all members do both - all members are ministers in word and deed. And as Paul said, "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Col 3:17). We are ministers out of thanksgiving for our salvation in Christ.

Word ministries respond to the broken relationship that people have with God and with themselves. Thus evangelism (narrowly defined) and counseling are word ministries that elders lead and that the whole church does.

Deed ministries respond to the broken relationship that people have with each other and the ground. Deed ministries include any ministry that addresses physical and social needs - like for fellowship, friendship, food, water, shelter, transportation, etc. Such deed ministries deacons lead and the whole church does.

Both word and deed ministries must focus first on the congregation and then on the community. If we are not taking care of the Spiritual, psychological, social, and physical needs of our congregation, then we will be much less effective at evangelism. Let me broadly define evangelism as ministering to the Spiritual, psychological, social, and physical needs (needs for Christ) of others (our community and the world) or for a shorter definition ministering the good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed to the world. Evangelism is something that elders and deacons lead and that the whole church does.

While there is a difference in emphasis between elders and deacons, both will engage in word evangelism and both will engage in deed evangelism. The words interpret the works. Words without works are just talk, as John said, "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18). And works without words are open to misinterpretation. God creates and interprets all of the good works you will do. In philosophical terms, for Christianity, there are no brute works just as there are no brute facts. The primary misinterpretation is that you are doing good works in order to earn your salvation. We need to offer people God's interpretation. As Paul said,

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 2:8-10).

My thoughts have been influenced by many people and books including:

Harvie Conn, Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1982).

Timothy Keller, "Diaconal Training" [audio cd] (WTSBooks, 1997); and Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road, 2d. ed. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1997).

Labels: brute works, deacons, elders, evangelism, reformed theology, spiritual leadership, thanksgiving