THE FIRST HOUR
The setting for this project occurred with three independent Churches of Christ: (1) Luverne Church of Christ, (2) Landmark Church of Christ, and (3) Central Church of Christ.[1] The seminars involved both leaders and lay members. These three engagements did not have any advance study materials to read prior to the three/four-hour training sessions. None of the participants was aware of the procedures that the instructor would follow prior to their coming together. Since all three of the meetings followed the same general format, then the following outline will be given only once to demonstrate the procedures followed in each of the three presentations.
The first seminar occurred on January 31, 1999;[2] the second seminar occurred on February 1, 1999;[3] and the third seminar occurred on February 6, 1999.[4] There were a total of twenty-two participants—twelve from the Luverne Church of Christ, five from the Landmark Church of Christ, and five from the central Church of Christ.
Each of the three seminars began with an introduction by the instructor. This introduction began with his own background within the Churches of Christ. A brief history of the instructor’s earlier training and the evolution of his thinking set the stage for the study on “False Prophets in the Gospel of Matthew, Who Are They?” Following this brief opening, the instructor informed the participants that one object of the seminar was to assist them in reading the Word of God more accurately. In order to do this, a large amount of the time allotted for the three/four hour study concentrated on context. Also, it was mentioned that a cursory view of the entire Gospel of Matthew would be presented in order to learn to read in context. Following the overview of Matthew’s Gospel, the participants were informed that a compact look at all of the conflict passages would be examined to determine who the false prophets were in the three occurrences of this phrase as stated by Jesus.
At this stage of the study, the instructor talked about the pre-test and post-test that needed to be administered in order to evaluate the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of his sharing with the group. Before the actual study began, the objectives of both pre-and post-test were discussed. Then, each of the participants was given a copy of the pre-test to fill out. The instructor discussed the pre-test and the objective behind this test. In other words, it was pointed out that this test, along with the post-test at the end of the session, should help the instructor to determine if there had been any substantial change in their attitudes toward identifying false prophets.
It was discussed briefly that the use of the phrase “false prophets” was loosely used within the Churches of Christ to castigate almost anyone who differed with the status quo, thus the instructor needed to know their mind-set prior to the seminar. At this point, the instructor called attention to the confusion that presently exists within the Churches of Christ nation-wide as well as locally. One of the major goals of this seminar was to try to bring about unity within the Churches of Christ through a proper understanding of how to read the Gospel of Matthew in context. Also, since there is a great deal of misunderstanding of imperfection in knowledge and fellowship, there is a need to explore this concept prior to dealing with the principles of interpretation concerning false prophets.
Following this pre-test, the instructor begin the material that appears in Chapter 1 of his project/dissertation.[5] It was pointed out that since the instructor’s act of ministry is within the Churches of Christ, it was/is incumbent upon him to analyze the current use of the phrase “false prophets” within the Churches of Christ. Since this phrase is generally associated with individuals who suffer from imperfection in knowledge, then Paul was called upon to determine how he reacted toward those with deficiencies in knowledge of God’s Word. To capture the mind of Paul in this area, two letters of Paul were consulted in order to determine how he dealt with problems among the Christians in Corinth and Rome.
Next, a number of cliches commonly employed and misunderstood by many Christians within the Churches of Christ were analyzed. For example, the following is a brief listing of the most common terms floating around within the various fellowships within the Churches of Christ:
· Unity and Fellowship
· Unity and Conformity
· Fellowship and Agreement
· Gospel and Doctrine
· Fellowship and Endorsement
THE
SECOND HOUR
The second hour of the seminar focused on the crisis and identification of false prophets within the Churches of Christ and the principles of interpretation. Following this lecture, the participants were given Chapters 2 and 3 of the dissertation (first draft) to assist them in understanding the problems that presently exist within the Churches of Christ.[6] The discussion for the first half-hour centered on the common use of the phrase “false prophets” within the Churches of Christ. The instructor discussed his early years as a boy preacher in which he cited Matthew 7:15 to condemn everyone who was not in his own party. From this revelation of his earlier beliefs, he then demonstrated that this same phrase is employed by almost every division (approximately twenty-five) within the Churches of Christ to condemn every person not in the camp of the person doing the name-calling. In discussing the current crisis within the Churches of Christ, four congregations were singled out during this study:
· Seibles Road Church of Christ
· Landmark Church of Christ
· Carriage Hills Church of Christ
· Vaughn Park Church of Christ
The second-half of this second hour centered on the principle of interpretation. Before dealing with the context of individual verses—especially Matthew 7:15—a brief overview of the structure of Matthew’s Gospel was presented in order to demonstrate the necessity of looking at the whole before proceeding to the particulars.[7] Following this brief analysis of the Book of Matthew, a number of examples were presented that illustrated how to interpret the Scriptures in context. To do this the instructor gave to each of the participants the following papers:
· “A Brief History of the One-Cup and Non-Sunday School Movement”
· “Doctrine of Christ in 2 John 9: Subjective or Objective Genitive”
· “Passover Traditions in the First Century”
· “My Pilgrimage of Faith”
· “The Narrow Gate”
· “Judge Not”
The instructor passed these papers out to the participants following the three/four lectures. These papers were written to illustrate the problems that Christians face when they do not interpret according to context.[8] Context was stressed over and over in order to set the stage for an understanding of how Jesus employed the phrase “false prophets.”
THE
THIRD HOUR
The instructor discussed the relevance of literary studies and the importance of looking at the whole before embarking upon the particulars. Again, this particular genre of interpretation was stressed in order to draw attention to context. Over and over again, the instructor stressed the need to look at context in order to interpret and apply the Word of God correctly. In the discussion of literary criticism, the instructor discussed the following terms:
The Implied Reader
Plot
Point of View
In addition to the above points about literary techniques, the three major divisions of the Gospel of Matthew were presented:
First Major Division—the unveiling of Jesus’ identity: 1:1—4:16
Second Major Division—the ministry of Jesus: 4:17—16:20
Jesus’ Teaching Ministry to Israel: 4:17—11:1
Jesus’ Healing Ministry to Israel: 4:12—16:20
Third Major Division—the repudiation of Jesus by Israel: 16:21—28:20
THE
FOURTH HOUR
During this part of the seminar, the conflict passages were briefly observed in order to set the tone for the phrase “false prophets” as utilized in Matthew 7:15, 24:11, 24. The following is the outline employed in this discussion:
Visit
of the Magi—Matthew 2:1-6
Confrontation
with John the Baptist—3:7-12
The
greater righteousness—5:17-20
The
healing of the paralytic—9:1-8
Plucking
grain on the Sabbath—12:1-8
Spiritually blind as to the meaning of
Law—12:2
Scripture—12:3, 5, 7
Characteristics of religious leaders
Legalistic—12:1-2
Accusatory—12:1-2
Unmerciful—12:7
Judgmental—12:7
Healing
of the man with a withered hand—12:9-14
Leaders’ evaluative point of view—12:10
Leaders are lawless themselves—5:17-20
Healing
of blind and dumb demoniac—12:22-37
Leaders’ evaluative point of view—12:24
Leaders opposed to God’s point of view—3:17
Demand
for a sign—12:38-45
Leaders demand a sign—12:38
Reminiscent of Satan’s challenge—4:4-5
Characterized as evil and adulterous—12:39
Reader knows signs already demonstrated—9:6-7
Eating
with Defiled hands—15:1-20
Phraseology of Jesus expressed
first—12:38
To the leaders—12:3-9
To the crowds—12:10-11
To the disciples—12:13-14,
16-20
Directly to the leaders—12:3-9
Indirectly to the
leaders—12:13-14
Leaders described as
Hypocritical—12:7
Spiritually blind—12:4
Transgressors of the law—12:3
This lawlessness described as
evil
Leaders’ trait characteristics
(things that defile)—12:19-20
Spiritual blind
Leaders do not know how to
interpret the law—15:4-6
Leaders do not distinguish
between the things of God and the things of men—15:9
Jesus alludes to the
eschatological threat—15:14
Leaders’
demand for a second sign—16:1-4
To test and oppose Him—16:1-4
Leaders described as evil—16:4
Jesus rejects the leaders—16:4,
6
The
Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees—16:5-12
Jesus’ point of view about the
leaders—16:6, 11
Religious
leaders presented to the reader as:
Characters who are evil—12:34,
39, 45; 16:4
Spiritually blind—12:24, 38,
42; 16:3;
Hypocritical—12:10; 15:7; 16:1;
22:18; 23:13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29
Conniving—12:14
Murderous—12:14
Unfaithful to God—12:37; 16:4
Unrepentant—12:41
Lawless—15:3, 6
Likened to a man possessed by a
demon—12:43-45
Pictured as acting in a manner
representative of Satan—12:38; 16:1
Leaders’
attitudes toward others very censorious
Unmerciful and Judgmental—12:7
Legalistic—12:1-8, 9-13; 15:1-20
Accusatory—12:1-2; 15:2
Leaders
did not know how to interpret the Law—12:11-12; 15:4-6
Leaders
were insincere
Questioned only to accuse—12:10
Questioned only to test—16:1; 19:3; 22:18, 35
Gave first place to human tradition—15:6-9
Root
character traits of the religious leaders are evil
Brood of vipers—23:33
Child of hell—23:15
Chapters
in Matthew’s Gospel presents the
leaders as
Abusive—16:21; 17:12; 21:35;
22:6; 23:34-35
Judgmental—20:18
Unbelieving—21:32
Lawless—23:3-4, 23, 25, 28
Legalistic—23:4
Murderous—16:21; 17:23; 20:18;
21:35, 39; 22:6; 23:34-35
The
Leaders’ basic evil consisted in
Fundamental Opposition to
God—21:28-30, 33-39; 22:1-14
Repeated attempts to test
Jesus—19:3; 22:18, 35
Opposition to Jesus as Son of
God—21:37-38; 22:2-6
Leaders frequently
accused of hypocrisy—22:18; 23:13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29
Leaders
charged with insincerity—19:3; 22:15, 18, 23-27, 35
Leaders
deceptive with regard to the crowds—21:26
Leaders
manifested spiritual blindness to the
Scriptures—19:4; 21:16, 42; 22:29, 31, 41-45
Law—22:17-21, 36-40; 23:23-24, 25-26
Power of God—22:19
Spiritual priorities—23:16-22, 23-24, 25-26
Importance of John the Baptist—21:26, 32
Significance of Jesus—21:16, 23; 22:41-45
Plot
against Jesus by the religious leaders—26:3-5
Betrayal
by Judas—26:14-16
Jesus’
arrest—26:47-56
Trial
before the Council—26:57-68
Leaders attack Jesus to His face—26:63
Leaders sought false witnesses—26:59-60
Leaders point of view opposed to God’s point of view
Jesus
delivered to Pilate—27:1-2
Leaders point of view opposed to God’s point of view
The
Remorse of Judas—27:3-10
Leaders call silver “blood money”—27:6
Pilate
questions Jesus—27:1-14
Pilate repeats the charges of
the leaders—27:13-14
Pilate
condemns Jesus—27:15-26
Action on the part of the leaders out of envy—27:18
Leaders persuaded the crowd to turn againat Jesus—27:20
The crucifixion of Jesus—27:33-44
Leaders express their hostilities—27:41-43
Leaders informed about what happened after the resurrection—27:11-15
To the very end, the leaders opposed to God’s evaluative point of view
Guards
at the tomb—27:62-66
Leaders appeared before Pilate—27:62
Guards are bribed—28:11-15
Following this overview of the conflict in the Gospel of Matthew, the post-test was given to determine if the participants viewed false prophets in a different light than before the lectures began.
CONCLUSION
This three/four hour session was profitable for all. Each of the three groups expressed great interest in continuing their study of this subject. Upon completion of the seminars, the participants were asked for feedback concerning their views—negative or positive—about the seminars. There were only positive responses on the part of the leaders and lay members. The next chapter details these evaluations.
[1] For a brief description of each of the three congregations, see Chapter 1, pages 13-15.
[2] This group gathered on a Sunday afternoon between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. at the Luverne Church of Christ in Luverne, AL.
[3] This cluster of believers met on a Wednesday night between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. at the Landmark Church of Christ in Montgomery, AL.
[4] This study began on a Saturday morning between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. at the Central Church of Christ in Montgomery, AL.
[5] Following the three/four hour seminar, each of the participants was given the first draft of this dissertation. This first chapter is not included as an “appendix” since this chapter is a part of the project/dissertation.
[6] Chapters 2 and 3 are not included in the “appendices” since these chapters are a part of the project/dissertation.
[7] For this structural overview, see Chapter 3, pages 45-47. See Chapter 4, pages 64—106 for a detailed analysis of Matthew’s Gospel. This chapter was not given to the participants; during the course of this seminar, the instructor spoke extemporaneously for approximately four hours. The only notes used during the entire seminar centered on the conflict passages in the Gospel of Matthew.
[8] Since each of these papers was given to each of the participants, the six essays are included in the “appendices.”