Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 9
Mike’s “Hallelujah…I can just do what it says” example includes head coverings (1 Corinthians 11), modesty connected to lust, Sermon on the Mount obedience, and nonresistance (“refuse to take up sword”); which of these “simple, straightforward” commands do you feel most tempted to reinterpret as “custom,” “future kingdom era,” or “just to show us we can’t,” and what does that temptation expose about your view of God’s wisdom?
Another way to ask: Which clear New Testament commands (like head coverings, modesty, obeying the Sermon on the Mount, or nonviolence) do you most want to explain away, and what does that show about how much you trust God’s wisdom?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript suggests our temptation to reinterpret these commands usually shows discomfort with costly obedience and a tendency to trust our theological systems more than Jesus’ straightforward wisdom.
- Mike’s head covering example: 1 Corinthians 11 gets dismissed as “a Corinthian custom,” yet he says Paul roots it in “creation order… headship… the angels.”
- Modesty: he warns some “convince even plain people… take that off… forget about modesty,” but ties modesty to Jesus’ teaching “about lust.”
- Sermon on the Mount: Mike says he was taught it was “for another era” or, in Calvinist framing, “just to show us how bad we really are,” but he rejects that as “explained away.”
- Nonresistance: he points to early Christians’ reasons: “Why… refuse to take up sword? That’s what Jesus said to do. Simple, done.”
- He says complicated theology can “muzzle Christ” and make commands “of none effect.”
- His core test is Jesus’ own conclusion: “Whoever hears these words of mine and does them… house on the rock.”