by J. Randal Matheny

On TheBible.net, someone asked in a forum discussion if the four gospels are not to be considered as a part of the old covenant, since Jesus lived under the old law.

In the years after the first centry, Christians designated the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as "gospels." It appears to capture a good perspective for these books.

These four record a period during which Jesus and his disciples lived under the old law. So the history it records is pre-gospel. But they were written in what is often called the Christian era by Christians, probably for Christians, or, at least, to familiarize non-Christians with the Lord Jesus and his teachings and purpose for coming to earth.

One big discussion in most circles has been for whom the gospels were written, Christians or non-Christians. In either case, the assumption has been, correctly, that these documents are meant to be understood within the context of the Christian message.

Yes, elements of the old law appear there: Jesus is a Jew, observes the Jewish feasts and laws, and teaches in the temple and synagogues. But the entire new covenant holds him forth as Savior, Lord, and Example. Therefore, in order for us to understand what he has done and taught, how he saves us, in what way he is Lord, and in what manner his life serves as our example, we need these four gospels for our faith. They are, in every sense, new covenant documents.

At the end of his work, John wrote, "... these [signs] have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name" (20.30-31, NASU).

Whoever "you" refers to (Christians, non-Christians, or both), the object is clear: the author of this book wrote with the purpose of bringing people to faith -- or to strengthen faith, depending on how one reads the Greek verb here -- in Jesus as a part of the perfect covenant. We may safely assume the same for the other gospels.

That is why, to take another tack, the four accounts devote so much space to the last week of Jesus' life and, particularly, to his death. These are no mere biographies, we have been rightly told for so many years. These basic documents spell out for us the true facts of the life, ministry, teaching, and sacrifice of our Lord and Savior. Since our belief is based upon the historical truth of the person of Christ, these are basic books for Christianity.

Christian books, these, through and through!

This question surfaces with more interest because in recent years some people have attempted to classify the four gospels as Old Testament in an effort to exclude the teaching on marriage, divorce, and remarriage from application to Christian living today. This is a dangerous and false teaching, for it appears to relegate what Jesus did and said to an Old Testament classification which can be ignored. Such a position is so distant from the truth of the gospel.

We can be sure: the four gospels are gospel. We need them for our Christian faith, teaching, and practice.

by J. Randal Matheny

The Arctic rockcod (trematomus, below) lives in cold waters and lives within a four degree variation of temperature, between -2 Cº and +2 Cº. Outside of this range, the fish dies.

On the other hand, the pupfish (Cyprinodon), found in some desert lakes, can survive a difference of 10º to 40ºC with no variation in its behavior. That, for Fahrenheit heads, is a difference of between 50 to 100 degrees.

One species has little tolerance to temperature changes, another can handle extreme fluctuations. There are special terms for these types. The term stenothermic refers to organisms having or tolerating a small range of temperature; eurythermic refers to organisms having or tolerating a wide range of temperature. The prefix steno- means narrow; the prefix eury- means wide.

Other ecological conditions give rise to other technical words: The salmon, for example, is euryhaline, able to exist in waters widely varying in salt content; it can live in both the salty ocean and in fresh-water rivers. Most fish, however, are stenohaline, needing a stable salt content to survive.

Time for a spiritual application.

I'm not an expert at creating new words, but Christians should be stenodidactic, that is, they have a narrow tolerance for what can be taught. They believe and teach a narrow range of truth. (Steno- = narrow; didactic fr. didakein, to teach.) Jesus speaks of the narrow (stenos) gate and the narrow way that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14). His teaching was hard for many to swallow (John 6:66), but he did not soften his words or broaden his approach for those who wanted a more tolerant view.

The word of God praises the stenodidactics. As Paul wrote, "Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you" (1 Corinthians 11:2).

In spite of that, some people prefer to be eurydidactic (remember: eury- means broad). They tolerate a wide range of beliefs and doctrines. They are happy to believe and teach one thing and let you believe and teach another. But Scripture does not look favorably on such tolerance.

"But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, his is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" (Galatians 1.8-9).

In the area of relationships, the situation changes. The love, patience, forgiveness, and acceptance which members of the body of Christ should show one another indicate that Christians should be eurycardiac (eury- means wide; -cardiac you already know: heart).

Paul chides the Corinthians for having a narrow heart -- they don't have room in their hearts for him (1 Corinthians 6:11-13). Twice he uses the Greek verb "stenochoreo" (note the prefix), meaning "to cramp, crowd, confine, restrict," to speak of their unwillingness to accept his love and concern.

Some people will be, however, stenocardiac. They insist on being critical, condemnatory, harsh, unwilling to bear others' burdens, authoritarian, and manipulative. They don't understand what it means to be "tender-hearted" to one another (Ephesians 4:32). The stenocardiacs look at others with a disapproving frown and a pointing finger.

Eurycardiacs don't necessarily give up the narrow way, but they do look upon others with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.

To sum up, Christians should be narrow-minded in the truth of the gospel and broad-hearted in their relationships with their fellow man. Like the temperature-intolerant rockcod, the disciple will not and cannot tolerate teaching outside the "range" of Christ's words; the result is death. And like the adaptable pupfish, the disciple thrives in the "extreme temperature differences" of human relationships.

May it truly be so of each one.

*I am indebted to a speech of Dr. Eugenio Mussak, given 26 May in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the applicability of the ecological terms to other areas of concern; his, to business and human resources; mine, to the spiritual realm. His material can also be accessed, in Portuguese, at his website: www.eugeniomussak.com.br

by J. Randal Matheny

"Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you" (Psalm 116.6, NIV).

Emotional states waver, dip, and dive more than the world's worst roller coaster. The book of Psalms records many of God's faithful saints coming to terms with their experiences and keeping their trust in his goodness and faithfulness.

The great testimony of Scripture is that the faithful keep on obeying, trusting, working, and confessing the holy Name in spite of their outer trials or inner turmoils. They demonstrate peseverance in their works as they bring all their emotions into line.

Psychologists tell us that all emotions are equally legitimate and none are to be censured or repressed. They have a point. But emotions are the dog's tail and can never be trusted to reflect accurately our bearings. The dog must wag the tail and never let the tail wag the dog.

Some emotions can diminish, deform, and ultimately destroy. Most, if not all, have their time and place, but left to themselves will derail a life.

What I feel does not always reflect what I know. In the dissonance, I must go with what I know. Often, the knowing and going will turn the feeling to its proper heading.

The content of what I know begins and ends with the nature and character of God. Constant review of that knowledge will put the soul at rest and the emotions in line.

"Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you."

by J. Randal Matheny

[Today's thought comes translated from the Portuguese-language meditation, "God With Us."]

"From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him" (John 6.66, NIV).

Jesus does not want followers at any price. His teaching separates those accept the truth from those who reject it. He will not change his teaching to make it more palatable.

Many are content to hear Jesus' teaching and to enjoy his blessings until he contradicts their beliefs or offends their sensibilities. The world is full of those who turned back.

Jesus asks us if we too will go away. And he hopes that we will recognize, with Peter, that only he has the words of eternal life.

Will you follow Jesus until the end or only up to a point?

There are no good stories. Only the singer really matters, seldom the song. What a writer brings to any story is an attitude, an attitude usually defined by the wound stripes of life. --John Gregory Dunne

What matters in the telling of this Story is not the flourish, but faithfulness to its facts. Fiction, poetry, and "creative writing" (whatever that is) shrivel before the moving history, the divine insertion into human humility. Not the "wound stripes of life" borne by the singer, but the wound stripes of the Cross make this Story vibrate with reality, drama, and pathos. More, with hope, love, faith, and power.

It is not what we, as writers, speakers, humans, bring to the Story, but what the Story gives to us. And what we pass on from it to others.

The singer is nothing. The Song is everything. For He who started singing created the inviolable Masterpiece.

Variations on the Theme diminish, yeah, destroy, the Song. One Song, one sustained melody, one harmony, one chorus.

Come sing with us.