“The Founding of the Philippian Church” Acts 16:25-34
“The Founding of the Philippian Church”
Acts 16:25-34
(Part Two)
Introduction
In the Greek Islands, one can seek out the home of Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine. In the area, one can also find an olive tree, supposedly dating from his time. If this is so, this tree would then be some 2400 years old. The trunk of this tree is very large but completely hollow. The tree is little more than thick bark. There are a few long, straggling branches, but they are supported by sturdy wooden poles every few feet. It has an occasional leaf here and there and might produce a few olives each year.
In the fields around, however, are olive groves in many directions. The strong, healthy, young trees with narrow trunks are covered with a thick canopy of leaves, under which masses of olives can be found each year. The tree of Hippocrates can still be called an olive by nature, in that it still shows the essential unique characteristics, but it has long since ceased to fulfill an olive’s function. Tourists file up to inspect this ancient relic, having some link to a dim history, but the job of the olive tree passed long ago to many successions of replanted trees. Do you know any churches (or even people) like the tree of Hippocrates? The form is there, but the function is not. They have stopped reproducing and are satisfied just being big, or having a noble history.[1]
Prayer
Four Principles That Led to a Growing Church (vv. 1-10)
#1. Don’t Do Ministry Alone—Find Someone to Invest In.
#2. Having a Good Reputation and Getting Rid of Unnecessary Obstacles Opens the Door to Conversations about the Gospel. Prioritize Life.
#3. Solid Doctrine is Essential to a Strong Growing Church.
#4. Life Changing Ministry Must Be Spirit Led.
Characteristics of a New Church (vv. 11-34)
A. People are Saved (vv. 11-15) – Lydia and her household
B. Darkness is Broken (vv. 16-24) – the demon possessed girl
C. Opportunities to Show Compassion (vv. 25-34)
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,[2] supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
(v. 25) “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” – “Praying they were singing (simultaneously, blending together petition and praise).”[3] “and the prisoners were listening to them,” The original word usage tells us they were enjoying what they were hearing. In the dark dungeon, while in stocks, sore from beatings, Paul and Silas were experiencing joy.
In preaching I could tell you of all the things that Jesus has done for you and because of that you should not sin. This is called the debtor’s ethic – In light of all that Jesus has done for you, now the least you could do is live in obedience to Him – you owe him this debt. But in most cases, this is not a strong enough motivation to avoid sin. Instead, when confronted with sin, I would remind you of the gift of joy that He has given to us.
“One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the incomparable pleasure of true joy. As David said, ‘You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with you in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.’ (Psalm 16:11). What if we seek to pursue this kind of pleasure in life? In our time of temptation to passing pleasure we can see how much more enjoyable is the incomparable pleasure that Christ gives. We will want to guard that pleasure and not let it be spoiled by lesser pleasures.”[4] We will willingly give up one type of pleasure for God and the joy we find in that relationship.
In response to Paul and Silas praising God, the rocks wanted to praise God too,[5] (v. 26) “and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.” There are other examples of earthquakes freeing followers of God, other examples of prisoners being freed, and they do escape (Acts 5:19; 12:11). Paul, Silas, and all the other prisoners have freedom – all they have to do is walk out the door but they choose to stay put.
But look at what they choose to do with their freedom; each in his own cell – door open, free, but they voluntarily stay. Paul and Silas voluntarily bind themselves to this man, so that he may come to know Jesus. Are you willing to give up your freedom to do what you want so that others may come to know Jesus?
“Bellevue Baptist Church exists to make disciples for Jesus Christ,” our mission can only be accomplished when enough people are willing to lay down their wants, desires, and preferences in order for a lost community to hear about Jesus. You give up your freedom, so that others can be set free.
How did Paul and Silas know to stay in prison instead of leaving like Peter earlier on Acts 12? In Acts 12 there is an angel waking Peter up, and leading him out, and there is no angel here. But there was it a shadow on the wall, the sound of the sword being drawn – something alerted Paul that the jailor was about to take his life. If he did this, then they would surely be free – but they stay. They want to use their freedom, to help to free him as well.
This is one of the joys of salvation; it is one prisoner tells the other prisoner how to be free. Some people don’t know they are really in a prison, and some people forget they used to be a prisoner.
The jailor knew why Paul and Silas had been put under his custody. How the demon possessed girl yelled out how they were “servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation, then he heard them singing and the praising in the darkness, but it was not until his world was shaken and an act of compassion was shown, they he started to ask the most important question a person can ever ask. For some it has to be a divorce, or a doctor’s test results, a financial loss – something that shakes us to our core, and we are scared to death before we are willing to ask the real questions of life.
(v. 30) “Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” – Paul and Silas were followed all through the town by the demon possessed girl, that they were “servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation (v. 17.) Then through the night they had sung songs, quoted Scripture, and prayed aloud – then an earthquake that could have cost him (the jailor) everything (but the prisoners showed him compassion), Paul says “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here,”
All Paul had to do was stay quiet and their freedom was certain. But he would have to experience a man take his own life, knowing he could have done something to stop it. But a man of God cannot remain quiet when he knows he can set a man free. Paul knows why he is in the jail cell he has a mission.
The jailor (and his household) wants to know ‘where does that kind of life and compassion come from?” There was something about Paul and Silas’ night of singing and praising and prayer – that caused the prisoners to stay and see what was going to happen next. (v. 25 b) “the prisoners were listening to them.” The jailor believed that Paul and Silas had the answer to his question. The lies, the beating, the travel, being away from family, the stocks, the prison – was all worth it, when this man asks this question.
(v. 31) “And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.” The jailer and his household, don’t have to do anything to be saved, only believe on Jesus. But if you have no biblical foundation – Who is Jesus?
Romans 10:14-15, 17 “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?3 And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? . . . So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Paul had already preached Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Paul takes God’s Word and explains to the man and his household how Jesus paid the price for their sin by dying on a cross and how He had fulfilled prophecy, and was the Son of God, “And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house,” This man and his family had no idea of who God was – he did not have the biblical upbringing of Timothy. “He (Paul) had been accustomed to using the Judaistic background as a support for his message.”[6]
He did not have the Jewish OT of Lydia or the women who gathered to pray. But like the girl freed of demon possession – they have no foundation – so “they spoke the word of the Lord to him.” The world is crying out, “what must I do to be saved?” and they need people to speak the word of the Lord to them. They don’t have a clue.
Bellevue Baptist Church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ – we have to go and tell them who Jesus is and what He has done for them.
This jailor was part of a system that brutalized Paul and other Christians, but through the work of God there is a symbolic picture of things changing, “And he (jailor) took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he (jailor) was baptized at once, he and all his family. Look at the radical difference in the life of the jailor; (v. 27) “he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,” (v. 34) “And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.”
This is the heart change of a person who has placed his faith in Jesus. From darkness and fear to rejoicing. This was the same man who shoved them into a inner prison cell, locked them in stocks, cared nothing for their wounds, now he washes their wounds, brings them into his house, puts a feast before them. This is a heart change. The first act of the new believer and his family is to serve.
Another example of salvation is Zaccheus in Luke 19:8 Jesus wanted to go to his house, as a tax collector he had stolen money from the people, and after his salvation Luke tells us “And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Where he had been greedy and a thief – now he becomes generous and wants to bless others. Where there is salvation, there is a heart change.
The prisoner and the jailor sit down together sharing the same faith and love. To be a Christian is to sit across a fellowship table from all kinds of people, each with a very different story to tell of how Jesus has changed their lives. This begins in a prison “about midnight,” then dad brings home two of the prisoners, after a major earthquake.
Something is different about dad, then the two strangers explain who Jesus is, and then you place your faith in Jesus, then your whole family is baptized, in the middle of the night – then you eat a meal, early in the morning – then dad and the two strangers go back to jail before daybreak. What a night.
40 says, “So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.” Paul visits with these new converts and then leaves. “That is all we hear about the first members of the first church plant in Philippi: a business woman and her household; a former slave-girl; and a city employee, the jailer, with his household.
That’s the beginning of the church plant in Philippi.”[7] That small group shared the gospel, and many came to know Christ through their testimony and witness. The Holy Spirit guided the church planters, Paul and Silas shared the gospel to a few – it was then these few that spread the gospel.
Paul leaves them to continue sharing the gospel in other towns – but what does he expect of them? What are they supposed to do? Next week we will look at Philippians chapter 1 and I want you to see the difference from where we leave this small group of believers to that first chapter.
When does a group of people who get together change into a church? If we define a local church as “A church is a group of Christians who meet together regularly and who have some measure of a commitment to each other to be the body of Christ together, which includes biblical leadership and biblical teaching and preaching and a proper celebration of the Lord’s Supper and a right application of Christian discipline.”[8] We will see next week that this small group go to work after Paul leaves – so let us follow their example in reaching our community for Christ.
I will conclude with this article, “This is my church. It is composed of people just like me. It will be friendly if I am. It will do a great work if I work. It will make generous gifts to many causes if I am generous. It will bring others into its fellowship if I bring them. Its seats will be filled if I fill them. It will be a church of loyalty and love, of faith and service. If I who make it what it is, am filled with these, Therefore, with God’s help, I dedicate myself to the task of being all these things I want my church to be.”[9]
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[1] http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/church.htm
[2] “In Roman law a guard who allowed his prisoner to escape was liable to the same penalty the prisoner would have suffered (Code of Justinian 9.4.4).” Longenecker, 464.
[3] Robertson, 250.
[4] Ajith Ferando, The NIV Application Commentary, Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing House, 1998) 456.
[5] See Luke 19:40.
[6] Clifton J. Allen, The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 10 (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Press, 1970) 99.
[7] https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/treasuring-christ-in-planting-churches-and-loving-the-poor
[8] https://www.9marks.org/article/what-is-a-church
[9] https://ministry127.com/resources/illustrations/church
Genesis 42 “There Comes a Reckoning; The Brothers First Journey to Egypt”
Seeking Wisdom in Difficult Days A Study of James A Faith that Works James 2:14-26
Seeking Wisdom in Difficult Days
A Study of James
A Faith that Works
James 2:14-26
Introduction
The churches that James is writing to have been scattered from Jerusalem and are all over the Roman empire. As the church scattered they would be living in communities where there would be constant pressure just to blend in, and to not cause any trouble. Christians, no matter what the generation, are commanded to “go and make disciples.” We are to share our faith, and lead others to Christ.
For this early church, as is true today, there would be a constant pressure to make Christianity as easy as possible for people to follow and to water down any doctrine that may be offensive to a lost world. So, it appears that among the churches, James is dealing with how do we define faith in Christ and what does the Christian life look like? If the person just says they are a Christian – shouldn’t that be enough. Just state a creed, a belief statement, and you are in. You can’t see their heart, who are you to judge?[1]
Prayer
What Good is A Dead Faith? (vv. 14-17)
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
James mentions in 2:1-13 that there should be no partiality in the church, and now he moves to another issue facing the dispersed church. In vv. 14-26 he “attacks the notion that a confession of faith guarantees salvation regardless of the conduct by the believer; in other words, that the recital of a creed makes a man acceptable to God despite his behavior toward others.”[2] Christians are not to show partiality in the church, but at the same time there are fellow Christian brothers and sisters who need help.
James is using the word “faith” and it is indicating different people depending on the context of how he is using the word. There are some who are expressing their “faith” in Christ but their lives have no deeds that are associated with being a Christian.
Then there are those that express a “faith” in Christ and also have the associated deeds of being a Christian. People who say they are believers do or do not have deeds that go along with being a Christian.[3] Strauss says, “The appeal is to be what you say you believe.”[4]
James begins by asking the question, “What good is it?” to say you are a Christian but not live the life of a Christian?[5] James says such a faith is dead. What good is it to have a dead faith? It doesn’t save you at the time of judgment, and it doesn’t make the world a better place – this person has ignored the needs of those around them and is giving out useless tropes “Go in peace, be warmed and filled.” Which also makes Christianity look back as a whole (hypocrites).
This is the same as giving a “thumbs up” on Facebook to some social issue your friend posts. They say, “we must stop sex trafficking . . .” So you give him a thumbs up, and scroll on your way. Have you actually done anything to stop sex trafficking? No. Have you done something to appease your guilt that someone should do something? Yes.
So, is praying for someone useless? It is the same as saying may God take care of your need to a fellow Christian. God has brought them to you, you have the means to help them, you know they need they are “poorly clothed and lacking in daily food.” But take no action to help them. Compassion and action is a characteristic of a believer. One could also say, “are we supposed to feed and clothe everyone?” This is an exaggeration and leads to doing nothing. You help those you can with the resources you have.
There is an important distinction to make with regard to faith and deeds. We place our faith in Jesus Christ which then, out of a thankful and obedient heart, leads to actions.
Faith Is Shown By Works; Three Examples (vv. 18-26)
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
James insists that you cannot separate faith and works and then goes on to give three examples to make his point (demons, Abraham, and Rahab).
1) Demons Have Faith But No Deeds (v. 19)
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
The Jewish people would say the Shema twice-a-day; so the dispersed church would still hold to Deuteronomy 6:4 where it says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”[6] Reciting this truth, as all the Jewish people would have done, does not constitute true faith. Simply, stating beliefs is not a living faith. The demons have a monotheistic faith.
Demons are not atheists, they believe that there is one God, but their understanding, faith, doctrinal statement, can not save them. They believe the right things but their faith is not expressed in action. “Religion that is worth something involves action that grows from the heart.”[7]
Intellectual assent – is the belief that something exists, but not doing anything with that belief. The demons are acknowledging facts – but they are not placing any faith on those facts. There is no righteous action in their lives based on their understanding that God is real, Jesus is the Son of God, etc. “A genuine belief in the truth will produce a genuine behavior of the truth.”[8]
Simon the sorcerer is an example of a person who mentally believes but is not saved. Acts 8:13 “Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.”
Acts 8:20-22 “But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.” “Here is a man who believed all that the demons believe, was baptized, but was without real repentance for his sin.” [9]
“A dead faith that does not move you to place all your trust in Christ is no better than the faith of demons and will send you ultimately to hell with the demons.”[10]
2) Abraham Had Faith and Deeds (vv. 20-23)
20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?[11] 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
James calls the person who believes they can be saved by words or confession of a creed alone a “fool.”[12] Which at first sounds harsh, but he is addressing the fool from a moral perspective.
It is a heart issue because even though evidence has been given, the immoral person wants even more evidence. They are happy to just say or expose being a Christian, but they do not actually want to do anything Christian.
We see the word “justified” in verse 21 and verses 24, 25, and it means “An instantaneous legal act of God in which he (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in his sight.”[13]
We are all guilty of committing the crime of sin, but because God is judge, we are found “not guilty.” This is not to say a person did or did not do the crime – it is a legal finding of “not guilty.” Or that you don’t have to face the penalty of a crime (someone else has taken the full extent of the justice given for your crime).
James is emphasizing that this justification will take place at the judgment. Faith is always revealed in deeds, and these deeds are taken into consideration at the judgement. When James uses “justification” he is meaning the actions as proof of the person’s salvation, not that the actions lead to justification.[14]
“Faith is a personal response in genuine attitude to the grace of God which Jesus proclaimed and manifested in his life, death, and resurrection. It is a relationship or trust, loyalty, gratitude, and affection.”[16] So faith is taking action based on one’s belief in the promises of God.
The Jewish people believed that because they were direct relatives of Abraham, then they would gain entrance to heaven based on that relationship. The Jews came to rely so much on the “merit” of Abraham’s faith that they felt that all they had to say “We have Abraham to our father (Matt. 3:9).[17] James shows that Abraham was a man of faith and that his faith led him to take action.
“A man is justified only by the kind of faith which does the things God commands. That faith which refuses to obey God is not the faith that saves. Real faith that saves is a faith that works.”[18]
There are two types of justification, the justification before men, and the justification before God. Romans 4:2 says, “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.”
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? – When faith is genuine, it will follow in obedience no matter how great the cost. In obedience to the command to sacrifice his son, Abraham began with faith (Heb. 11:8), left his home and moved his family by faith (Heb. 11:9) and sacrificed by faith (Heb. 11:17). Abraham lived a life of faith that was full of obedient action. Abraham’s faith in God was real because it governed Abraham’s life.
“You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;” The idea here is that faith is brought into maturity through action. Faith directs and motivates action; action matures faith. James is saying that the two are inseparable.[19] We learn and grow in our relationship with God as we act and move and do what He commands and directs us to do.
Abraham moved his family, believed God when he pointed to the stars of the sky and eventually gave him a son in his old age. Abraham had faith and action as he laid Isaac on the alter – He grew as a believer as he acted in obedience.
3) Rahab Had Faith and Deeds (vv. 24-26)
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?[20] 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.[21]
Rahab is listed in the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1:5, and as one of the “Heroes of the Faith” in Hebrews 11:31 “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.” She is also in Joshua chapter 2 and 6. Abraham and Rahab are polar opposites – the patriarch and the prostitute – both are given as examples of faith with deeds.
***review the story of Rahab.
When did Rahab place her faith in God? She had already heard of God before the spies arrived, she told them, “And as soon as we heard it, hour hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. 12 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you . . .” (Joshua 2:11-12)
We don’t know exactly when she placed her faith in God, but she was justified before the Lord when she hid the spies, and when she tied the scarlet rope to her window, and when she waited with her family during the battle – she trusted the Lord to do what He said He would do.[22]
It is amazing that Rahab is given as an example of a person who had faith and works, while at the same time did not have a foundation of doctrine (she didn’t grow up in the church), she was a prostitute, and she lied. “Rahab was justified by her faith because she performed works of mercy and showed hospitality to God’s people. (Bede)”[23]
She is also an example of a person whose life wasn’t perfect, it was messy – yet she placed her faith in God and took Him at His word. Her actions of hiding the spies and risking her own life to save God’s people was a first step of continued deeds that would strengthen her faith and make her more like the woman God intended for her to be.
James finishes his argument with an analogy, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” Ultimately James is not contrasting faith and deeds, but a dead faith and a living faith. Faith alone without works is as dead as a body without breath.
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[1] Pheme Perkins, Interpretation A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude (Louisville, Kentucky; John Knox Press; 1995) 113.
[2] George Arthur Buttrick, Gen. Ed., The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 12 (Nashville, Tennessee; Abingdon Press, 1957) 40.
[3] “Can authentic faith find expression in a confession of right doctrine? Can authentic faith be expressed merely as sentiment that never reaches the point of action?” David P. Nystrom, The NIV Application Commentary, James (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 1997) 148. We Baptists, who are “people of the book,” must be careful that our focus on correct doctrine and biblical teaching does not crowd out our works of compassion and meeting the needs of those in our world. One is worthless without the other.
[4] Lehman Strauss, James Your Brother (Neptune, New Jersey; Loizeaux Brothers, 1980) 104.
[5] Clifton J. Allen, Gen. Ed., The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 12 (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Press; 1972) 117.
[6] Allen, 119.
[7] David P. Nystrom, The NIV Application Commentary, James (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 1997) 152.
[8] Strauss, 105.
[9] Ibid, 107.
[10] Ibid, 109.
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinomianism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinomian_Controversy
[12] The crook is the one who harms another person but not themselves; the fool is the person who harms both others and themselves; and the wise is the person who does no harm neither to themselves nor another.
[13] Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 1999) 488.
[14] A.T. Robertson, Studies in the Epistle of James (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Press, 1959) 92.
[15] Buttrick, 44.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Robertson, 99.
[18] Strauss, 113.
[19] Peter H. Davids, New International Biblical Commentary, James (Peabody, Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishing, 1983) 69.
[20] Joshua 2.
[21] Helen Wodehouse, “We think we must climb to a certain height of goodness before we can reach God. But he says not “At the end of the way you will find me”; He says, “I am the Way; I am the road under your feet, the road that begins just as low as you happen to be.” If we are in a hole the Way begins in the hole. The moment we set our face in the same direction as His, we are walking with God.”
[22] So what do we do with the fact that she lied as to the direction the spies went, and is in the same sentence described as “justified?”
[23] Thomas Oden, Gen. Ed., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Volume 11 (Downers Grove, Illinois; Intervarsity Press, 2000) 28.