The Different Other: Listening to Scripture about Things that Divide Us

First Week: Difference is good! God loves it. 1. Difference in union reflects God in his person, a personal union of equals. 2. Difference in union reflects God in his mission.

Week 2: The Different Other in Israel’s Theocracy (Past and Future) 1. God’s culture of mishpat 2. Application of mishpat to the ger [and MIS-application of ger-mishpat]

Last Week: NT and the Different Other 1. Jesus and Different Others: mishpat within the Story. 2. Church: A mosaic of Different Others. –One in the same New Covenant Spirit. –Difference for the Spirit’s mission about forgiveness in Christ.

The Dimensions of the Different Other: Person, Church and Society Lesson Four: The Dimensions of the Different Other: Person, Church and Society

The Personal Dimension of the Different Other—Who am I? 1. In Scripture, it is always what unites those in Christ that leads in how we self-identify. – Paul’s pervasive “in Christ” language. –Indicative ALWAYS grounds the Imperative. –The Spirit’s profound work for the unity of Different Others.

2. Our differences are only mentioned as a means of God’s grace to others. 1. Paul’s “my kinsmen” (Romans 9–11) vs. what he now sees as “skubala” (Philippians 3:8). 2. Differences in Spirituals, 1 Corinthians 12:1–7, for the “common good” (v. 7).

3. Gender is always defined in terms of the other gender in Scripture, never in isolation. “…the Bible’s gender-specific passages always concern the practices of individuals toward each other, rather than inherent qualities in isolation… [The] Bible does not say, “A man is this” and “A woman is that,” but rather “Man, do this for her.” “Woman, do that for him” (S. Andreades, enGendered, 51, 56)

It’s the Gospel that first Defines Me My Race (nationality), Gender & Socio-cultural “Places” are for the purpose of raising the Fame of Jesus Christ in the other gender, those of other races, and those of different socio-cultural Places. In other words, It’s the Gospel that first Defines Me (See Luke 9:23)

Church Dimension: True Spiritual Community as Different Others. Community of Spiritual Family: “So numerous are [family-expressions], and so frequently do they appear, that the comparison of the Christian community with ‘family’ must be regarded as the most significant metaphorical usage of all…More than any of the other images utilized by Paul, it reveals the essence of his thinking about community” (R. Banks, Paul’s Idea of Community, 53–54).

Spiritual family: a challenge for Western Evangelicals? “Family Friendly” Churches…? (but Matthew 12:49–50) Structuring/organizing by age/bio-family stages. ‘Single’ a cultural, not a biblical, category… Honoring of celibacy (and Matthew 19:12)? No voice to same-sex-oriented… Cultivating “spiritual friendships”?

Wesley Hill, Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian (Brazos, 2015).

Majority-Other obligations within Spiritual Family? 1. Awareness is power! That is, awareness of the “norming” power of majority group views, styles, preferences, etc. 2. Intentionality to the “voice” of minority Others. 3. Organize for Spiritual-family community.

Societal Dimension: mishpat for the Different Other 1. Mishpat in THIS phase of the Story: Is the mission of the Church now to redeem/transform culture? Hint: Remember the “central doctrine” of the Spirit in the NT, “The proclamation of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…” Luke 24:47

2. Mishpat in the service of Witness beam tip Proclamation Good works of mishpat