What’s your (n)omen?

Self-fulfilling prophecy (Photo credit: van.brussel)

The Romans had a little saying: nomen est omen. It basically means ‘the name is the prediction of the future’. Today we might call it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You must have known people like this at school? The kid with the oddly-spelt name (like my friend Traiycee) is sitting next to the kid who wants to go by their full, traditional name (like my other friend Edward); which one do you think is going to get better grades/behave better/not have children before they’re 16?

I know there are exceptions to the rule, but it doesn’t take much imagination to answer those questions, does it?

I think the Bible’s attitude towards our names is pretty clear: they matter. People’s names change when there’s a change in their character or circumstances (Mara-Naomi, Simon-Peter, Saul-Paul).

We call the Christ Jesus, but his disciples most likely referred to him as Yeshua, meaning ‘God saves’. A great name! Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy! Then on top of that, he was given the name that is above every name so that every knee would bow, and every tongue confess that he’s Lord, to the glory of the Father.

That’s very good. But it’s not the final word, because he gives Christians a name.

He calls us sons and daughters of God, in Jesus. That’s a wonderful name to reflect on when we hear nomen est omen.

Related articles

• Nomen est Omen (catterel.wordpress.com)

The best Bible verse

Cover of Holy Bible: 10th Anniversary Edition

Every word of the Bible is equally inspired and equally important and therefore equally authoritative…but this verse, 2 Corinthians 5:21, has to be my favourite:

For our sake he made him who knew no sin to become sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

No matter how many times you read that verse you can put the emphasis on every single word and have its truth impact you again. I find, anyway.

But if that’s my favourite verse, this has got to be my favourite passage:

…whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ a

nd be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith… (Philippians 3:7-9)

Do you think it’s alright to have favourite bits of the Bible? Do you have a favourite?

One day I’d like to preach this exact sermon

Got a spare three-quarters of an hour? If not, make the space. Then watch this:

Ok, Jesus is amazing.

If all have sinned then all are justified

Image via Wikipedia

I have a confession to make: I’m guilty of quoting the Bible out of context to make a point. In my defence it was unintentional, but since realising this I’ve noticed that we Christians seem to do it just a little too often. Have a look at these commonly quoted Bible verses that don’t actually say what we seem to say they do:

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

I’ve quoted this, and heard it quoted often, to say that…’all have sinned’. Nobody’s perfect. But to take this verse to prove that the Bible says that everyone’s sinned isn’t logical, because the sentence continues:

[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

Logically speaking, if you’re going to use verse 23 to ‘prove’ that everyone’s a sinner, you must accept that all are justified – and that’s not the case because those that are said here to be justified are justified through faith in Christ Jesus. So the ‘all’ means ‘all Christians’. Can we please stop using Romans 3:23 to say that everyone needs to become a Christian?

Matthew 18:20

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

I’ve heard this one quoted in probably every other prayer meeting I’ve been to: ‘O Lord, you said that when two or more gather in your name you are there, and we are gathered in your name so you are here with us…’

But that’s not what the passage is saying! Have a read of Matthew 18:15-20 and you’ll quickly spot that it’s talking about church discipline! Jesus is saying that if someone has sinned against you and won’t repent when you approach them or when independent witnesses validate your claim, you should bring them before the church because the collective witness of Jesus’ body, the church, reflects Jesus’ own view.

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Perhaps this is my favourite. This is always used as the call for conversion: ‘Unbelievers, Jesus is standing at the door of your heart, will you open the door and let him in?’

But again, look at the context! This statement is part of a rebuke to a church who were being ‘lukewarm’ – they were claiming to be Christians but living as if they were atheists. Jesus’ knock isn’t a gentle ‘let me in for intimacy’, it’s a sarcastic ‘Helloooo! I’m right here, you say you believe in me, but you’re acting like an unbeliever!’

Conclusion

Right. Let’s be clear here – I actually believe that all have sinned. I believe that Jesus is present when we gather by his Spirit. I believe that Jesus is calling unbelievers to faith and repentance. But how about we treat the Bible the way it should be treated? Instead of taking soundbites from it, how about we read it, study it, and apply its lessons.

The Virgin Mary

Image via Wikipedia

Right. For some reason I stumbled onto a Roman Catholic website the other day, and ended up finding this forum. Here’s the question that one R.C. user posed, based on Mark 6:3 (‘Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon? are not also his sisters here with us?’)

Mary was a virgin when she had Jesus, but had children by normal childbirth later. How can we pray to the virgin Mary when she did not remain one?

If you’re interested, have a click through the little discussion that ensues. If you’re not interested, here are my issues with this question and the assumptions behind it:

1. The R.C. church teaches that Mary was a virgin her entire life based not on anything concrete, but solely on something one pope said once, Pope Pius IX to be exact:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

2. If Joseph and Mary were married but she died a virgin, this seems to be a bit of a miracle in itself.

3. The only concern the guy quoted above seems to have with Mary being a virgin is that he can’t pray to her any more. And what does the Bible say about praying to Mary? 1 Timothy 2:5:

there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Simple question, sorry to be patronising: if there is one mediator between God and men, and that one mediator is Jesus, why not speak directly to the one mediator? There being one mediator means that there are not two mediators, which means that Mary is not a mediator between God and men. By praying to Mary (or anyone else) we are either speaking to someone who can’t hear us, or someone who can’t speak to God – what a waste of time, and what an insult to Jesus and his completed work on our behalf.