Participants: Tom Shepherd & Deyvy Rodriguez
Series Code: PBOTB
Program Code: PBOTB000005A
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00:22 Hello friends, and welcome to "Books of the Book."
00:25 Is there a secret to holiness? 00:26 Well, in today's program we're gonna to find 00:28 the answer to that question. 00:30 And with me is Dr. Tom Shepherd. 00:32 He is a professor at Andrews University, 00:34 a New Testament Interpretation, is that right? 00:36 Correct. Welcome back. Okay. 00:39 I've been learning more about you, Dr. Shepherd. 00:42 And I found out that you not only speak English, 00:45 but you speak Spanish and Portuguese, 00:47 that makes you trilingual. Trilingual, yeah. 00:49 When we were missionaries in Brazil, 00:53 it was a necessity to learn Portuguese, 00:55 I had to teach in Portuguese. 00:57 And the first semester for my students 01:00 and I was quite a challenge. 01:02 We were there for two and a half years 01:04 and then when we returned to the United States, 01:07 I- during the first year back I took a class in Spanish. 01:14 So that I could learn the- the two languages were 01:17 actually the same language up until about 1100 A.D. 01:20 and then they separated. 01:23 And so there's lots of shared words between the two languages, 01:26 so- That's right. 01:28 It's not too late, you learn the vowels 01:29 and you can make the changes. 01:30 That's right, and do you still use those languages? 01:33 Yeah. There's a number of Brazilian students 01:36 at the seminary so I speak Portuguese regularly with them. 01:40 I preached for them a while back. 01:43 Español is "un poco menos" 01:46 opportunity for me but yeah, you know, there are-I mean 01:49 there are Spanish speaking students. 01:51 I just feel like I'm kind of wading 01:52 through molasses when I try to speak Spanish. 01:55 I have to go kind of slowly. 01:57 And it gets mixed up with Portuguese so then its Portuñol. 02:01 And your Spanish is not so bad 02:02 I had a conversation with you, earlier this week. 02:04 Gracias buser. Igualmente. 02:07 So we're studying today the secret to holiness. 02:12 Where do we pick up here? 02:14 We're studying in the book of 1 Peter, 02:16 Chapter 1 and we are starting in verse 13. 02:19 Our passage goes from 1 Peter 1:13 through 21, 02:24 but what we are going to read is just the- 02:27 like the first four verses 1 Peter 1:13 through 16, 02:32 we'll get started there. 02:34 Why don't you read that for us? 02:35 "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, 02:37 be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace 02:41 that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 02:45 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves 02:48 to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 02:51 but as He who called you is holy, 02:53 you also be holy in all your conduct, 02:56 because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." 03:00 All right. Well, there's plenty enough for us 03:02 to wrap our minds around in this passage. 03:05 And we start with first-verse 13 03:08 with this very interesting metaphor where it says, 03:12 "Gird up the loins of your mind." 03:14 Now that's kind of literal translation 03:17 of what it says in Greek. 03:18 We don't often use that even in English today. 03:19 No, we don't, we don't, and that's because, 03:22 you know, it's not our culture anymore. 03:25 This goes back to the culture, 03:27 it's still the culture of the Middle East, 03:29 in very hot and dry environments 03:32 what people wear is flowing robes, 03:35 white flowing robes because they circulate the air 03:39 and keep you cooler, and they actually wear 03:42 a turban on their head. 03:43 You think, wow, that's such a hot place 03:45 why wear a turban because it protects your head 03:48 and when you sweat actually I think the sweat gets 03:51 into the band and then it evaporates and cools your head. 03:55 So yeah, I mean, they're smart people, 03:57 you know, what they do. 03:58 But the problem with flowing robes is 04:01 it's very difficult to run in a flowing robe. 04:05 And so what they used to do, they'd have a belt 04:07 around their waist and they would take the flowing robe, 04:10 they would pull it up and they tuck it into their belt. 04:14 So then their legs would be exposed 04:16 and free open and then it would be easy to run. 04:19 So you're getting ready for quick action, 04:22 when you gird up, you take up the cloth- 04:26 the flowing robe, gird up and put it in the loins. 04:30 So you put it into that belt that's around your waist. 04:34 So whenever they say, gird up loins, 04:37 they are talking about getting ready for action. 04:41 So the English Standard version, instead of giving 04:45 Peter's metaphor takes and interprets the metaphor. 04:52 You see, so that you don't have the metaphor anymore 04:54 because a lot of people they read that- 04:57 like you said, we don't use those term. 04:59 So this says, "Therefore, 05:01 preparing your minds for action." 05:04 Okay. All right. 05:05 But that makes more sense than gird up the loins- 05:08 Yeah. To me. 05:09 Well, it's always kind of the question in Bible translation 05:12 as to whether you should maintain the metaphors, 05:16 do a literal translation of how it's stated, 05:18 or should you put it across in a language 05:21 that it is more suited or fitted to the culture 05:24 that you're trying to express this to. 05:28 There are pluses and minuses to both actually. 05:31 You're moving away from the language of Scripture, 05:33 when you modify and you're interpreting it more, 05:37 but you're making it more understandable. 05:38 So for somebody who is brand new believer, 05:41 somebody who's never read the Bible before, 05:43 I would give them one that read like this, you know, 05:45 that did have it kind of interpretive for them. 05:48 But for somebody who is already made a commitment to Christ, 05:50 somebody who wantsto study hard, they want to see 05:53 the words more close to the original as it was. 05:56 We'd have them read one maybe more like that. 05:58 So both are- both are valuable and good. 06:01 All right. So you're girding up the loins of your mind. 06:04 So this is getting your mind prepared for action. 06:09 And then he says, "Be sober minded." 06:13 Now, the term here, 06:15 the underlined verb means to not drink alcohol. 06:21 To be sober, sober minded, 06:23 to be sober to-see alcohol is actually an anesthetic, 06:29 most people don't think of it that way, 06:31 but it puts the brain to sleep starting with the frontal lobes 06:36 and then working its way backwards 06:37 and down into the cerebellum and so forth. 06:40 So when you drink alcohol, you're not as alert to, 06:45 you know, what's going around you. 06:47 So not thinking clearly. Not thinking clearly. 06:49 That's right, he said. 06:50 So he wants you to be thinking clearly, 06:52 this is typical of eschatological 06:54 type of language where, you're gonna be awake, 06:58 you can be ready, you're gonna be prepared to go. 07:01 You know, you're gonna have 07:02 everything just prepared and ready. 07:05 It's like when the Israelites were prepared to leave 07:10 the land of Egypt, they had their staffs 07:13 in their hands there, their loins were gird up, 07:15 so they could move quickly. 07:17 They were ready to go because God was going 07:19 to bring them deliverance. 07:20 Now, it's interesting that in my translation it says, 07:23 "Set your hope fully on the grace." 07:25 I think yours say something like that as well. 07:27 "Rest your hope fully on the grace, rest." 07:30 The word I'm interested in right now is the word "fully." 07:34 Okay. This word ''fully" 07:37 in the Greek text stands right between the word sober, 07:41 "be sober" and the word "hope." 07:45 Okay. And the question is, 07:47 which word does it modify it's an adverb here? 07:50 And which word does it modify, does it modify sober, 07:55 be completely sober or does it modify 07:58 the word hope, set your hope completely? 08:00 Actually, I think it probably modifies sober 08:05 because if you say set your hope, 08:08 see, set your hope on the grace 08:10 that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 08:14 If I say to you, set your hope fully on the grace 08:18 that is going to be revealed at the coming of Christ. 08:21 What does that suggest about the word hope? 08:23 If I said-if I said set you full hope fully. 08:27 Well, that might suggest that hope isn't quite 08:31 such a quit big word as you thought it was. 08:34 That you had to add a word to it fully, you know, 08:37 because these people maybe weren't going 08:39 to do it and so you pressed it, so. 08:41 I think that diminishes the word hope a bit that Peter has. 08:44 He has more of a concept of hope, 08:46 that's a big term, that's a big cosmic term 08:48 Jesus is coming again kind of an idea. 08:51 So I think that this term "fully" 08:53 really goes better with "sober minded". 08:56 Now let me read it again, in that way, 08:59 "Therefore, prepare your minds for action, 09:02 and be completely sober, set your hope on the grace 09:08 that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 09:11 Okay. Now if we- 09:13 if we think of it that way, if this is a about now, 09:15 a lot of people want to say, this is just metaphoric. 09:19 You know, metaphoric soberness, this is not literal soberness. 09:24 I teach people something that 09:25 I call eschatological temperance. 09:28 Okay. Eschatological has to do 09:30 with the last days, all right. 09:32 Jesus is coming again. 09:34 Temperance has to do with being sober, 09:37 with being in self-controlled in this kind of way. 09:41 I believe in eschatological temperance, 09:43 in other words I don't use alcohol. 09:46 Why not? Because Jesus is coming again, 09:50 I want to be completely awake, I don't want to have anything, 09:53 you know, kind of slipping by me 09:55 because I was using something like that. 09:58 All right. Well, just a little bit of Adventist- 10:02 look at the eschaton and what's coming, all right. 10:04 So you set your hope fully on the grace 10:08 that's going to be revealed at the revelation of Jesus Christ 10:11 and then read verse 14 for us again. 10:13 "As obedient children, not conforming yourselves 10:16 to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;" 10:20 Right. All right. 10:21 So "As obedient children, do not be conformed 10:25 to the passions of your former ignorance." 10:27 Does that remind you of any text of Scripture? 10:30 I think, we were reading something about that in 1 Peter. 10:34 1 Peter-I was thinking of something perhaps in Paul. 10:38 "Don't be conformed." Does that remind you of a text? 10:41 Okay. "Do not be conformed of this world." 10:44 Of this world, Romans 12. Romans 12. 10:46 Romans 12:1 and 2, just turn over there. 10:49 Now, let me just talk a little bit 10:51 while you look that up and then we'll say it again, 10:54 so our listeners can also look it up, Romans 12:1 and 2. 10:59 Sometimes, Peter has been thought of as a Paul light. 11:05 He's kind of Paul put simply and really not as good as Paul. 11:10 Actually, that view scholars 11:12 have set that kind of perspective aside. 11:15 The books of Peter and the theology particularly, 11:19 of 1 Peter is every bit is profound is 11:21 that of the Apostle Paul and he says something to Paul, doesn't. 11:23 We'll be noting those as we go through the book. 11:25 Okay, read for us Romans 12:1 and 2. 11:27 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, 11:31 that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, 11:33 holy, acceptable to God, 11:36 which is your reasonable service. 11:38 And do not be conformed to this world, 11:41 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 11:44 that you may prove what is that good 11:47 and acceptable and perfect will of God." 11:50 It's a similar, very similar kind of an idea. 11:54 One of the translations puts it this way, 11:56 "Don't let the world squeeze you into its mould." 11:59 "Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold." 12:03 He talks about not being conformed 12:05 but being transformed by the renewal of our mind. 12:09 Well, this is the very kind of idea 12:11 that Peter has been talking about, isn't it? 12:14 He talks about that holy life. 12:16 He talks about that new relationship with God. 12:20 And Paul says, there that we are 12:22 to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. 12:25 See, how that fits in with Peter saying, 12:27 gird up the loins of your mind. 12:28 He says, and be completely sober 12:30 in a way that you look at life. 12:33 You're not supposed to be conformed 12:34 to the passions of your former ignorance. 12:38 This is just the old way of life that they had been 12:42 following in the past that that way of- 12:45 he calls it ignorance and of course, 12:49 which is a very negative term 12:51 that he is disvaluing the old way of life. 12:54 Remember, Peter is fortifying the minds of these people 12:59 to live as Christians in the society 13:02 that is opposed to them and is trying 13:04 to attract them back to paganism. 13:06 So, how does he do that? 13:08 He's forming in their minds a new concept 13:11 of what it means to be a Christian. 13:13 Keeping their eyes fixed on the hope 13:15 that's in the future, having their past settled, 13:19 and understanding that they are to be totally 13:21 awake in the present time that such a serious 13:24 difficult time to live through. 13:26 So Peter's really telling them, do not go back to the lifestyle 13:30 you used to before you were Christian, 13:32 before you accepted Christ, do not be conformed 13:34 to that lifestyle you used to have. 13:36 Don't go back to it. 13:38 It's that way, is the way- that was the way of ignorance. 13:42 And we certainly don't want to remain in ignorance. 13:44 No, that's right. Okay. 13:45 We're going to take a brief break, Dr. Shepherd, 13:47 and after this we will continue with "Books of the Book." |
Revised 2024-02-19