John Mark Hicks

2 Samuel 6:1-11 (begin at minute 36 for the sermon)

Uzzah was part of a religio-political procession; it was not simply about an inadvertent touching of the ark. What happened to Uzzah signals the unholy nature of David’s agenda. It is more about what David wants than what God wants.

Texts: Galatians 4:4-7; John 1:1-2, 14; Hebrews 2:14-18

Days 30-32 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days.

Trinity is often either avoided or ignored; it is misunderstood or denied. The confession of one God who subsists in three “persons” (or relations) is a difficult topic.

As we seek to live within the biblical narrative, the three-fold action of God for the redemption of the world seems to play out rather explicitly in the writings of the New Testament.

• The Father sends the Son into the world, born of woman, and then sends the Spirit into our hearts, crying “Abba.”
• The one who was with God in the beginning and is identified as God is also the one who became flesh by the power of the Spirit.
• Becoming flesh, the Son was made like other humans in every way in order to, in the power of the Spirit, conquer the power of the devil and make atonement for the sins of the people in service to God.

When we think of “Trinity” in terms of the work of God in managing the world for the sake of its redemption (what theologians call the “economic Trinity” where economic refers to management of a household), we see the three-fold work of God.  The Father initiates the drama of redemption; the Son incarnates, embodies the life of God, and makes atonement; and the Spirit empowers and rests upon the Son.

We also see this economic Trinity in our own lives. The Father elects us; the Son effects forgiveness and righteousness for our sake; and the Spirit indwells and transforms us.

This lesson is the beginning of a Trinitarian journey into the redemptive work of the Triune God for our sakes. The Trinity is the subject of the rest of the story!

For a brief summary of the theology of the Trinity, see this blog post.

Texts: Amos 5:14-15, 24; Zechariah 7:8-12; Malachi 3:1-5

Days 27-29 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days.

When Jesus characterized Israel’s Scripture as the “Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). The previous two classes discussed the Torah (Law) and Wisdom (which is typically included among the “Psalms” and often called “The Writings” in traditional Judaism). The third category is the Prophets, the third major categorization of Scripture in the life of Israel.

This category, in the Hebrew Bible, includes (1) the Former Prophets (the history books from Joshua to 2 Kings), (2) the Latter Prophets (the major writing prophets), and (3) the Book of Twelve (typically called the minor prophets).

Who are the prophets? What did they do? How did they serve Israel, and how did they form Israel’s faith and life with God? What is the theological function of the prophetic message in the life of Israel?

The prophets hold Israel accountable to their commitment to the covenant made with God at Sinai.  They remember Israel’s history, prosecute their offenses, and promise hope. They speak for God in both judgment and hope, and they remind Israel who their God is. Through their word, God guides Israel into the future.

Situation: the rise of trans people, especially among children (e.g., adolescent girls)

In 2007, there was only one pediatric gender clinic in the US; now, there are 300+ gender clinics (plus some services, like Planned Parenthood, dispense testosterone, depending on state laws, to minors without parental permission or a therapist note). Britain has seen a 4400%+ rise in incidences of gender dysphoria among adolescent girls (mostly teens) since 2014. This is called “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” (ROGD, teen girls with no prior history of gender dysphoria).

Gender Dysphoria: Severe discomfort with one’s biological sex.

1. Classic/Typical Dysphoria:  appears in 1 in 10,000 (0.01%), overwhelmingly in males, begins in early childhood (2-4 years), persistent insistence on possessing the “wrong body,” and most experience same-(birth)-sex orientation. Typically, 75% become comfortable with their sex (most identify as Gay), while others transition to their desired sex (socially and/or medically).
2. Social Contagion: “Trans Kids” (recently, they are mostly adolescent girls who have a long history of sharing their pain through self-harm, eating disorders, and anxiety about their bodies that is exacerbated by affirmation from authorities and social media influencers). In 2018, 2% of High Schoolers identified as transgender. Transition follows this form (not all fully complete it): (a) Self-identification and social transition (changing names, pronouns, gender expressions); (b) Puberty Blockers (when they have not yet gone through puberty); (c) Cross-Sex Hormones (androgens/antiestorgens; estrogens/antiandrogens); (d) Medical Transition (top surgeries; bottom surgeries).
3. Activists: reshapes culture through the lens of gender ideology so that trans people are not only legally protected from harm but culturally affirmed and given space to flourish (e.g. sports, etc.).

Recommended Printed Resources

Abigail Favale (Roman Catholic), The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory.

Helen Joyce (atheist), Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women’s Rights.

Abigail Shrier (Jewish), Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.

Mark Yarhouse (evangelical), Understanding Gender Dysphoria.

Debra Soh (atheist), The End of Gender: Debunking Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society.

Preston Sprinkle (evangelical), Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has To Say

Recommended YouTube Lectures/Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWbxIFC0Q2o Abigail Shrier lecture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSKQfATa-1I Abigail Shrier and Jordan Peterson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xUrtNW6Fzo Helen Joyce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqZmx265N80 Helen Joyce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WejfXjzFaMI Helen Joyce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UubVmdppBY Helen Joyce and Abigail Favale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-al2JOnxCM&t=3275s Abigale Favale and Preston Sprinkle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkas5PkJzMs Abigale Favale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-_b9eqrFZQ&t=342s Abigale Favale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB6mgJkhBEU Mark Yarhouse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzDrJT_X2M8 Lisa Littman (Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu8amCC4_wk Debra Soh

Question:  What is “gender”? How is it related to biological sex?

• a social construct that varies from culture to culture;

therefore, gender is a fluid state without objective boundaries.

• a matter of self-identification based on a sense of self;

therefore, gender is grounded in a subjective sense of self (even “innate”).

• a fixed biological reality;

therefore, gender is grounded in and tethered to one’s biological sex.

Gender Definition

Gender is a comprehensive word that includes (a) social elements (which are culturally fluid in so many ways) and (b) struggles to identify (as some wrestle with their discomfort with their bodies and their self-image), but (c) ought to include biology as its objective ground and basis.

Much of current discussion excludes the body from such grounding or collapses the body into social construction or self-identity (e.g., male brain in a female body). Yet, binary biology is part of the ground of gender, and social constructs mimic this to one degree or another across cultures.

Lovingly, we may care for and accompany adolescents who are caught up in this “social contagion” (just like female adolescents have been caught in other contagions exacerbated by social media, like cutting [self-harm] and eating disorders) in ways that compassionately and sympathetically address gender dysphoria. While there are genuine experiences of gender dysphoria (the classic cases), there is also such a thing as “social contagion” that rests on social constructions for gender fluidity and encourages adolescents who are uncomfortable with their bodies to reject their body’s sex and identity as another gender (nonbinary, trans, etc.).

We can lovingly process this dysphoria with people while, at the same time, affirming the biological grounding of gender in their embodied sex. It is a difficult decision to reject the reality of one’s body; I cannot imagine that struggle. I know it is terrifying for those who experience this struggle, and they want some peace about how to relate to their bodies. As people of peace, we listen, dialogue, and offer a vision of the gospel that heals wounds rather than creating them.

Theological Claim:  There are only two sexes (“male” and “female” per Genesis 1:27).

Biologically, male and female are binary because a body either has one type of gamete or another (sperm or egg). No known human being has ever produced fertility through both. This biological reality is affirmed in the Genesis identification of human beings as “male or female” as well as in the biology of creation itself. All mammals are either male or female. Intersexed persons (0.02% of the population) are not a third sex but variations within male and female sexes. There is no third sex. Some people (0.002%) are born with both ovaries and testicles, few are functional and never both.

Without biological grounding, “gender” (and even sex itself for some) becomes an internal sense that is expressed through social conventions or expressions. Consequently, not only gender but sex itself becomes a fluid category. As a result, there is no definition of male/female except one’s own internal sense of identification. Biological sex, then, is folded into gender such that “sex” is “assigned” at birth rather than a given, a gift from God.

People who transition, whether driven by classic dysphoria or by social contagion, sometimes detransition. Some who transition regret their decision; others happily embrace it. Whatever the case, the church may pursue a welcoming and healing strategy rather than exclusion, derision, and hate. The church must prepare for how it will help trans people and nurture them in the faith.

Texts: Proverbs 9:9-10; Ecclesiastes 1:2-3

Days 25-26 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days.

Every people group carries a shared wisdom within their history. This wisdom provides boundaries and paths for successful living. It also offers a way for people to endure the chaos that regularly invades life. Wisdom envisions the good life but recognizes the chaos of life as well.

Israel’s wisdom invites believers into a flourishing life through Proverbs, provides a dramatic lament to process chaos in the book of Job, and through Ecclesiastes wrestles with faith in a world filled with death.

In this video, part of a Bible class’s walk through my book 80 Days Around the Bible, I explore the theological function of wisdom in Israel’s story.

I accepted the challenge to read 12 books suggested by my friends on Facebook.

I have read the first of 12 books recommended by Facebook friends. The first was recommended by Bruce Bates: Tim Keller, *Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I*. This is my brief summary.

At bottom, we ought to forgive because God has forgiven us in Christ, and we pursue forgiveness by letting go of the right to revenge (whether physical, emotional, or relational vindictiveness such as ill will) as a form of voluntary suffering that imitates Jesus. Forgiveness is costly.

Forgiveness requires a sense of spiritual poverty or humility as in “there but for the grace of God go I.” It also requires a sense of spiritual wealth and assurance in the grace of God. To know the grace of God means the love of God flows through us toward others.

The pursuit of forgiveness, however, neither diminishes the harm done nor fails to name that harm. The authentic act of forgiveness names the evil, speaks the truth, and honors what is right. This may hinder reconciliation because it demands the offender own the evil done rather than excusing it and continuing in it.

Keller stresses that divine forgiveness is the payment of our debt through the penal substitution of Christ (though I don’t think penal substitution is necessarily an essential point–but the cross is). It is undeserved. It is free. But it is costly to the giver of this forgiveness. This is the *vertical* dimension of forgiveness: we are forgiven by God. This forgiveness is the resource out of which we forgive.

The second dimension of forgiveness is *internal*. By the power of the Spirit (Keller could have been more emphatic about the Spirit though the point is there), we are enabled to deal with feelings of personal vengeance, unbounded rage, and personal vendettas (including cutting words, gossip, etc.). Forgiven, we internally let go of hatred, rage, and payback. When God’s forgiveness is experienced deep in our hearts, we are enabled to move through our feelings—though the process is difficult and painful—toward a forgiveness that takes our hands off the other person’s throat.

The third dimension is *horizontal*. Since we have been forgiven by God and our hearts begin to experience divine healing, we don’t give up the goal of a reconciled and restored relationship. Sometimes it is not possible because there is an unwillingness to name the evil, repent of it, and change behaviors. Reconciliation is not cheap.

However, reconciliation is not necessary to experience the vertical and internal dimensions of forgiveness. We can experience healing without reconciliation, but reconciliation is nevertheless an important part of walking in love toward others, including our enemies.

I recommend this book. It is accessible and theologically credible. It addresses numerous aspects of a complicated, messy, and problematic topic. It will help you think through, practice, and embrace forgiveness as a major Christian virtue (including self-forgiveness as well as the forgiveness of others).

In January, 2021, Bammel Road Church of Christ in Houston, TX, asked me to share my understanding of 1 Timothy 2:11-12 with them. This is the ZOOM video for January 31, 2021.

This presentation suggests that Paul is addressing a confused situation in Ephesus where some deceived women were influencing the whole church, and consequently Paul encourages them to learn before they teach. These women had been deceived just as Eve had. This is not a universal prohibition against women teaching men. Rather, it is Paul’s response to a specific situation where Paul uses Eve as an analogy rather than as the basis for some kind of created order that ranks the authority of men and women in the church.

The Powerpoint slides are available here.

Another video on 1 Timothy 2:12 (“Three Problems with a Soft Complementarian Reading of 1 Timothy 2:12”) is available here.

For a summary of my perspective, see this essay.

For a more extended presentation of my understanding, see my book: Women Serving God.

Texts: 1 Chronicles 29:29-30; Psalm 19:14

Days 20-22 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days.

Every people-group has a history; they tell stories about their journey. And every people-group has a liturgy; they worship someone or something.  Israel is no different.

The Torah and subsequent histories (running from Judges through Kings and Chronicles to Ezra-Nehemiah) narrates the story of Israel.

The Torah, along with the histories, highlights the rituals and rhythms of its liturgy, and the Psalms are the prayerbook of Israel.

What is the theological function of these parts of Scripture for Israel? Why are they there, and how do they provide guidance for living faithfully with God?

In this video, part of a Bible class’s walk through my book 80 Days Around the Bible, I explore how the narrative and liturgical genres of Israel’s Scripture form Israel as God’s people.

In January, 2021, Bammel Road Church of Christ in Houston, TX, asked me to share my understanding of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 with them. This is the ZOOM video for January 24, 2021.

This presentation affirms the principle of “headship” (which needs definition) and the interdependency of women and men “in the Lord.” In the assembly, both women and men are affirmed in the use of their gifts, and women have authority to participate visibly and audibly in the assembly of the gathered saints.

The Powerpoints are available here.

For a summary of my perspective, see this essay.

For a more extended presentation of my understanding, see my book: Women Serving God.

This rudimentary online presentation for a course at Lipscomb University identifies the common ground between Anabaptists, Baptists, and Restorationists (Stone-Campbell). It also identifies some significant differences as well.

The Powerpoints are available here.