Josh Benner

Author: the Josh Benner Blog

  • Eve and the Serpent. Studying Genesis 3:1-7

    Eve and the Serpent. Studying Genesis 3:1-7

    The doctrine of original sin is one that has confounded many throughout the centuries, but especially in recent decades. A talking snake talked Adam and Eve into sinning and that brought condemnation for all of humanity? 

    That is the teaching of the Bible and the event is picked up again and referenced in the New Testament as the event which brought sin into the world (cf. Romans 5:18-19; 1 Corinthians 15:20-21). 

    People question this event. Why would God care so much about people eating fruit of a specific tree? I’d ask why man felt so compelled to disobey? And even now, we continue to question the command! 

    In Genesis 3, we see a paradigm that so often plays itself out in the human heart in regards to our sin. Doubting God’s Word, Distorting God’s Word, rejecting God’s Word, doubting God’s goodness and choosing to disobey. 

    Doubting God’s Word

    Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

    -Genesis 3:1

    This is how the serpent begins the discussion with Eve. At the beginning, he introduces doubt when he questions God’s word and asks Did God actually say ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

    He is introducing the idea that God’s Word is subject to human judgment and opinion. 

    Distorting God’s Word

    In response, Eve goes to far and ends up misquoting what God had said. Genesis 3:2-3 says: 

     2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 

    The problem is that in Genesis 2:16-17, the specific command is: 

    16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” 

    So the Lord commanded not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve changes God’s Word by suggesting that they cannot eat or touch the fruit of this tree. There are other distortions in what Eve says, but for this post, we’ll mainly focus on her adding to what God has commanded. 

    Rejecting God’s Word

    Genesis 3:4:

     4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 

    The serpent flatly contradicts God’s Word and denies the weight of the consequences for disobedience. Again, we see how these issues with the scripture work their way into our own decisions. We doubt God’s Word, we twist it to make it say what we want it to say, we disregard it when it’s not what we like. The results this leads to are disastrous. 

    Doubting God’s goodness

    The serpent continues to speak in verse 5: 

    For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

    I love how Ken Mathews sums this up in his commentary of Genesis. In the serpent’s rejection of God’s word, he is implying “God is not good and gracious; he is selfish and deceptive, preventing the man and woman from achieving the same position as “Elohim””

    False promises 

    After contradicting God, the serpent explains why the rejection of God’s command will actually be better than obedience. The rest of verse 5 records the serpent saying: your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

    Once again, this plays into the heart of human sin. We doubt God’s goodness. When we sin against God’s commands, we are acting as though God is holding back something good from us or that we know better than God. 

    This way of thinking treats God as our adversary. 

    From temptation to sin

    We see the response of Eve in Genesis 3:6: 

     6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 

    With her eyes, she sees the fruit of the tree is good. In eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Eve is seeking out wisdom independent 

    The serpent had distorted God’s Word but not everything he said was an outright lie. He deceived and tempted eve with half-truths. Indeed the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened. But they were open to recognize their nakedness. Eve thought that eating of the fruit of this tree would make her like god. John Sailhamer observed that instead, Adam and Eve realized they weren’t even like each other as shame and hiding were introduced. 

    In the process of this first sin, we see other issues of the human heart. We see the pride of thinking that she knows better than God. There is also covetousness of thinking that true fulfillment will come from something that Eve lacks. These elements in our decisions to sin and our commissions of sin have played themselves out time and again throughout history. 

    The end of verse 6 mentions that Eve gave some of the fruit to Adam. We’re not sure if he heard the exchange between eve and the serpent, and there’s no indication as to what his thought process was which led to the eating of the fruit of the tree. 

    Sin is introduced into the world. 

    Genesis 3:7 says:

    7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 

    The serpent told half-truths. He had given the empty promise that Eve’s eyes would be opened upon eating the fruit. That part was true. For both Adam and Eve, their eyes were opened, and what they saw was their nakedness. The serpent told her she would be like God. This appealed to our desire for glorification. The serpent told Eve that she would have the knowledge of good and evil. That was true too, but what that knowledge brought was the knowledge that Adam and Eve were now evil. 

    Genesis 3 records nothing good coming of eating this fruit. It’s not depicted as some magical moment of bliss. Their eyes are opened. They have sinned. In their nakedness, they sew together fig leaves to cover themselves. It’s an attempt to hide from their sin. But they cannot hide from an all knowing God. 

    Sources: 

    K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 236.

    John H. Sailhamer, “Genesis,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990), 52.

  • Memorial Day – and the Saving Private Ryan character we struggle not to become

    I hope that you’re all having a meaningful Memorial Day. As we observe holidays throughout the year there are movies that become associated with them. For Christmas, there’s an entire season of Christmas movies.At Thanksgiving, It’s a Wonderful Life is associated with the season. At Easter, it’s resurrection movies like Ten Commandments and the Passion of the Christ. 

    One of the great movies that I’ve come to associate with Memorial Day weekend is Saving Private Ryan. As a fan of the military film genre, Saving Private Ryan is my favorite. I love the characters, the performances, the story, the themes. 

    For men especially, I think that war movies speak to something inside of us. There’s a warrior spirit. There’s the desire to want to be the hero, to want to have valor. But in some ways, the character in the movie who men struggle against becoming is Timothy Upham (played by Jeremy Davies). 

    When Captain Miller is putting a team together to go and search for the missing Private Ryan, he needs someone with them who can translate. Upham speaks both German and French. In this regard, he’s helpful, though he offers little aid for his military skills. In one of the most dramatic scenes of the movie, Mellish, one of Upham’s comrades, is in a fierce hand to hand combat situation against a German soldier. Upham is standing in a stairwell, paralyzed with fear. He does nothing to intervene when he could have saved Mellish in that situation. Ultimately Mellish is killed in the struggle. When the German soldier who has just killed Mellish leaves the building, he sees Upham cowering fear and crying. The soldier walks right past him. 

    It’s easy to think that we’d be the hero, to think we wouldn’t be the man standing frozen in the stairwell. I think of the various domains of our lives. Being men, being husbands, going to work, growing in faith, leading families.

    It’s easy to be the hero in our own mind. It’s easy to be a hero, philosophically. In that, I mean that it’s easy to have the ideas and knowledge of what’s heroic, noble, and valorous. But actually executing on those fronts is the challenge. It’s what separates the common people from the uncommon. It’s what separates the everyman from the superman. We don’t effortlessly become great. If we did, everyone would be great and do great things. It takes real sacrifice, humility, and character. I know these are things that I fail to live up to all too often. 

    It’s easy to recognize greatness and know what it takes. It’s a lot harder to pursue greatness which requires actually doing what it takes. It’s easy to be a bystander, it’s easy to be afraid. 

    In the movie, Upham isn’t portrayed as a bad man. But he’s also not a great man. There is a scene later in the film where he shoots a German soldier. But in the moment that really counts, he’s standing frozen in a stairwell when he’s needed most. 

    Remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice 

    On Memorial Day, we do honor hundreds of thousands of brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.

    AMERICAN REVOLUTION – 25,000
    WAR OF 1812 – 15,000
    CIVIL WAR – 364,511
    WORLD WAR I – 116,516
    WORLD WAR II – 405,399
    KOREAN WAR – 36,516
    VIETNAM – 58,209
    AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ – 6,713

    To the hundreds of thousands of men and women who gave their lives in the service and defense of America, thank you.

    Originally published May 25, 2020

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

  • Sermon: The Last Breakfast – John 21:1-14

    Jesus provides a miracle for a group of disciples by providing a huge catch of fish for the group and then hosting them for a meal. In John, the ministry of Jesus begins and ends with meals and in this passage, we see it pointing forward to the mission of the church and the work that the disciples will do when Jesus is gone.

    Sermon manuscript

  • He who comes from heaven is above all. Studying John 3:31-33

    He who comes from heaven is above all. Studying John 3:31-33

    31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.
    -John 3:31-33

    We’re continuing in the Gospel of John this morning.

    Last week, we were looking at an interaction between John the Baptist and some of his followers. They’re seeing the early ministry of Jesus and he’s having more success than John the Baptist. We see in John’s response that he is humble to see what Jesus is doing. 

    In all four gospels, John the Baptist is seen prior to the ministry of Christ. In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist is present in the opening prologue and he’s seen as a forerunner to Christ. The last place where John the Baptist appears in this gospel is in section of John 3:31-36. It’s noteworthy that there are a lot of similar themes in John 3:31-36 to what is found in the opening section of John’s Gospel.

    The opening prologue of John’s Gospel tells us many realities about Jesus. That he was in the beginning, he was with God, he is God, he is God who came into the world, he brings the light of righteousness into the world, he makes God known, grace and truth come through him.

    But that passage is also interrupted by telling us about John the Baptist. 

    John 1:6-8:

    6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 

    We see from the outset that John has been sent by God, he’s not the light, he’s a witness to the light. 

    And the opening prologue immediately follows into a section where John the Baptist is ministering and baptizing. He sees Jesus and witnesses to who the Lord is. 

    Just to give a reminder. 

    John 1:29-31. John sees Jesus and says: 

    “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

    In John’s Gospel, as the ministry of John the Baptist, the divinely sent forerunner comes to a close, it’s the end of a section in this book. And in that sense, it’s fitting that this section would make so many allusions to the opening prologue. 

    Because we’re learning about Jesus in the opening prologue. It’s telling us the glorious truths about Jesus. But Jesus isn’t yet present in the story in the opening section. It is after the opening prologue where we’re actually seeing Jesus living out what has been said about him. 

    John the Baptist comes onto the scene prior to Jesus’ ministry but here John’s ministry ends and we’re seeing that what he has borne witness to is true. 

    I know I’m talking a lot about John the Baptist so far, but make no mistake. This section is ultimately about Jesus. 

    As John fades from the story, this passage concludes with his words last week in 3:30: 

    He must increase, but I must decrease.” 

    In John 3:31, John the Baptist is speaking: 

    He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.

    The text says that Jesus comes from above and is above all. The end of this verse will also speak of Jesus and say that he who comes from heaven is above all. 

    First thing I want to focus on is that word “above.” I think this will be helpful to understanding the passage. 

    Jesus is above all yet he is contrasted against John the Baptist. “He who is of the earth belongs to the earth.” In a sense, John the Baptist is a representative for all of humanity in that line. 

    A similar idea is expressed in Paul’s writings when he looks at the role of Adam as a representative for sinful humanity. 

    1 Corinthians 15:47-49:

     47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. 

    So there is sinful humanity which has no hope. 

    To be of the earth is to not posses the qualities that Jesus has. It’s to speak in an earthly way. It’s showing our imperfections. With as important of a ministry as John the Baptist had, he was still ultimately a fallen person. 

    But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus is different. The earth is sinful and fallen. Humanity is incapable of redeeming itself. 

    But Jesus comes into the world with a ministry which is from above. 

    Verse 32:

     He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.

    The “he” in verse 32 is Jesus. Jesus bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 

    To what does Jesus bear witness? It’s to the heavenly truths as one who is above all. Jesus is the word who existed in the beginning. In a world where no one has seen God, Jesus is the one who makes God known. 

    Again, referring back to the first chapter. John 1:18: 

    No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. 

    And while Jesus came into the world to reveal the truth of heaven, that he is the light of the world who brings us to God through his life, death, and resurrection, the world has largely rejected this gospel. 

    Again comparing this idea to the opening prologue. 

    John 1:10-11: 

    10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 

    It is a hyperbole, an exaggeration of speech when John says that “no one receives his testimony.” 

    Obviously there are people who receive Jesus’ testimony. We wouldn’t be here if not. But it’s a wonder that the whole world does not accept his testimony. 

    God came to earth, he had a life full of miraculous activities, he died and rose, He comes in perfect fulfillment of the Old Testament. Yet many do not believe in him. You have several ancient non-Christian historians who write about him but there are those who deny if Jesus was ever even a real historical figure. 

    It’s that the world wants to be blind to the righteousness of God. 

    John 3:19-21, Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus: 

    this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

    So we have those who do not receive the testimony of Jesus. We see that contrasted in the next verse of our passage. 

    Verse 33:

    Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.

    Compare that to John 1:12: 

    to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

    Whoever believes the testimony of Jesus, of his life, his teachings, his ministry, his identity as God and man, his role as the savior of the world, his death which was died for sinners, the life that he was raised to, whoever receives his testimony, whoever trusts in Jesus sets his seal that Jesus is the Lord and trusts in God and his promises.

    Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.  To trust in Jesus is to trust in God. John calls that setting ones seal that God is true. Even today, official documents often times come with an affixed seal. 

    If I were to try sell you some property and it was a handwritten note, that might seem a little..illegal to you. But when you own a home, or land, or a vehicle, you have official documents that have official seals from the state or the county on them. Same thing with documents like a birth certificate. There’s an official seal that comes on them. 

    Well in the ancient world, official seals were also important on documents. The seal could be very telling as to who the sender was and what authority they had. This was especially significant in a time when a lot of people could not read. 

    What this verse is saying is that the person who receives the testimony of Jesus, the one who believes in Jesus is staking their very soul on the truth of who Jesus is. 

    This verse is really a packed theological statement. 

    To trust in Jesus is to place your eternal security and hope in his gospel. Have you? Where’s your seal? 

    Do you trust in yourself? In your goodness? And Jesus is there off to the side? 

    Or is he the Lord of your life? Do you look to Jesus as the one who is above all and who came to be with us on earth so we could be with him in heaven? 

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  • Thoughts on keeping the Sabbath

    Thoughts on keeping the Sabbath

    The initial Old Testament commands about the Sabbath revolve around the idea of rest. In the gospels, Jesus gets into numerous Sabbath controversies for his activities. In his day, the Rabbinic teachings on how to keep the Sabbath had gotten very restrictive as to what could and could not be done on the day of rest. 

    How strictly should Christians adhere to the rules when on Sundays? Should we go out to a restaurant? Or watch sports? Or play sports? Or watch TV? Or should it be a day entirely revolving around religious observance? 

    It’s interesting that the initial Sabbath commands in the Old Testament don’t actually mention worship. They revolve around rest. 

    With that in mind, I am of the opinion that what’s restful varies from one person to another. In Jesus’ day, people had gone too far in treating a myriad of basic activities as “work.” This could come to absurd results. For instance, in John 5, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath and is questioned for violating the command! The letter of the law had overlooked the spirit of the law. 

    In another Sabbath controversy, Jesus would say in Mark 2:27-28, ““The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” 

    I think getting too restrictive on Sabbath practices and what people can or can’t do on that day overlooks the heart of Sabbath. 

    I think what “counts” as rest depends on the person. 

    What’s recharging to you (so long as it’s not sinful)? 

    For some people, spending the afternoon tending to the garden might be really enjoyable, relaxing, and refreshing. For me, that would be torture. But for the person who enjoys it, I think that’s a worthwhile way to rest. 

    Someone might stay away fro TV on that day. That’s fine. But I enjoy TV. I like to watch a game or a movie to relax. 

    When I was single and had first moved to Minnesota, I used to take a lot of my off days and take a day trip to a different part of the state and take nature photographs. They were long days. I’d be gone for hours. But I enjoy photography, I love driving, I love nature, I loved seeing new places, and I got to enjoy listening to podcasts, or audiobooks, or talking on the phone with friends and family. To me, that was a great way to recharge. But it wouldn’t be for everyone. 

    The Sabbath is ultimately a gift from God to his people. It’s meant to be enjoyed. It’s unfortunate that it’s become twisted and is treated almost like a punishment. It’s a time to rest, to worship, and to unwind. It’s a day that’s meant to be different from the rest of the week. 

    This is a paraphrase, but I’ve appreciated comments that I’ve heard Jefferson Bethke make on Sabbath. He compares it to Christmas. No one forces you to celebrate Christmas! No one complains, “Ugh, Christmas again.” It’s a special day. It’s a day unlike every other day of the year. A Sabbath should be like a min-Christmas every week. 

    One principle I would recommend. Don’t use the Sabbath as chore day. That’s such an easy thing to fall into in our busy society. Many people work so hard and get so busy that days off become days to get caught up. I’m not militant about it. But I think that when we do that, we’re missing out on the opportunity to enjoy rest. 

    And I say this as someone who works hard. Someone who likes to work. I’m someone who struggles to rest! But I know it’s also important to do. 

    Jefferson Behtke: https://www.lessen.blog/blog/how-to-practice-sabbath-from-a-beginner

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