Jason Albertson

I’ve heard the story from Judg. 4-5 ( Judg. 4:4-9 in particular) used to justify this claim: It is shameful when the lines between gender-roles are blurred. Judg. 4:8-9 in particular are the basis for that claim. The argument might go something like this: Barak said he wouldn’t lead if Deborah didn’t come with him (v. 8). Barak failed to lead alone, like a man should—he failed to perform his masculine role. God was displeased by Barak’s lack of leadership, so God shamed him by giving the glory of killing the enemy general to a woman (v. 9). Conclusion : Men should not look to women for leadership, but should take leadership upon themselves as their masculine duty. There are several assumptions/beliefs involved in this argument. Men and women have different roles in relation to (1) other people, (2) society and (3) creation in general. Those roles flow from the differences in what it means to be male and female. Those differences are so pervasive that men and women share almost no comm...

I grew up in the Christian homeschooling movement. The movement has some dappled shadows; there are good aspects, and there are really bad aspects, and which aspects you experience depends on which area you grow up in. While my family didn't take it on, I grew up on the border of one particularly harmful shadow: belief in hyper-distinct masculine and feminine roles. For homeschoolers, this belief was popularized by figures like Bill Gothard and Doug Phillips. The same beliefs show up in lots of manifestations of religious fundamentalism, from Islam to some of the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement. In the Christian homeschool context, that hyper-gendering (HG) takes the form of theology about what it means to be a man or a woman. HG theology leans heavily on the KJV translation of Gen. 2:18—thus the term “help meet”: And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Gen 2:18 KJV) HG theology proponents interpret the phr...

1 Cor. 3 uses the word the KJV translates as "carnal." A lot of us in the American Holiness tradition tend to associate "carnality" with "whatever that thing is that needs to be fixed by entire sanctification," so it might come naturally to us to think of entire sanctification when we run into "carnal" or "carnality" in the wild. Problem : entire sanctification isn't always part of what's going on when "carnal" pops up. Example : 1 Cor. 3:1-4 This passage was part of the Sunday school lesson this last week in a curriculum I ran across. The comments in the lesson talked about how the Corinthians needed to be entirely sanctified to get this carnality dealt with. You know what's interesting? Paul doesn't mention entire sanctification as the solution to their carnality. Not a word. Maybe you're like me. Maybe when you hear the word "carnality," it's hard not to just hear it as "t...

Romans 12:2 says,* And do not be being conformed to this world, but be being transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may be testing and finding out what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. The two phrases I underlined are commands (linguistic jargon: imperatives). In Greek, commands come in two types: Snapshot command (linguistic jargon: aorist imperative) An example would be when a parent is driver training with a teen and yells, " Help us , Lord!" Help us  doesn't tell you anything about the action the parent wants God to take except that it be helpful (and quick, preferably). It could just be a single moment of God's help, or it could be however many more hours the teen needs on their log sheet to get a driver's license. Video command (linguistic jargon: present imperative) An example would be when someone prays at a board meeting, " Be guiding our plans and discussion, Lord." Be guiding  does tell you somethi...

As I've studied Galatians recently, it has stuck out to me that for all Paul's talking about walking in the Spirit, he doesn't say anything about something that needs to be removed inside a person for them to walk in the Spirit. The classic American Holiness way of talking about inherited depravity is to describe it as something that needs to be removed, a blight on the landscape of the heart. It's interesting to me that Paul doesn't reference anything needing to be removed in Galatians. I understand this is an argument from silence, but I think it's worth noticing. If inherited depravity is something that needs to be removed from the heart, I would have expected Paul to say something about that. But he doesn't. He says that if you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). Someone asked me recently, "What about Ezekiel's description of God replacing a heart of stone with a heart of flesh?" That happens...

The “bless” word family (“blessed,” “blessing,” “#blessed”) is usually used to mean, “I’ve got something good and I like it.” Maybe some, when using it, would include God in what they’re saying, such as, “I’m grateful because God has given good to me.” That definition of “blessed” (the state of having something nice and liking it) or “blessing” (the nice thing that I have and I like) doesn’t work in a lot of cases when the Bible talks about “blessing.” The Bible frequently uses “bless” to refer to something someone says--for example, James 3:10 says, “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.” This is another definition of “bless”: say a good word. This kind of blessing happens in personal relationships sometimes, though not very frequently--the experience of giving or receiving a verbal blessing can be awkward and humbling. It’s vulnerable. Blessing with words comes more naturally to my wife than anyone I’ve ever known. When a friend of hers was about to leave on a missions...

Uber review: "1 star. Cramped vehicle. Poor snacks. Reckless driving.  Thankful to be alive." The message of a story is usually communicated by the characters. In the story of Jonah, there are three main characters: God, Jonah and pagans. The characters make the author's points. The first two posts here looked at contrasts between God and God's prophet. Those contrasts show us how Jonah was unlike God, and the contrasts call us to be like God, not like Jonah. There's another comparison/contrast relationship going on in this story: God's prophet versus the pagans. In chapter 1, God's prophet receives God's call. God's prophet  refuses  to obey because he hates the Ninevites (4:2), and he skips the country. This probably indicates that Jonah thought Yahweh, who is the God of Israel, might be  merely  the God of Israel, and so hemmed in by national boundaries. It turns out that Yahweh is not hemmed in by national boundaries. Jonah is stupid; he b...

Jonah: "See ya, buddy! You really have been a 'great fish.' Ha ha ha" This post is second in a series reflecting on what I've learned from writing a Theology of Jonah. The topic of this one is God's compassionate kindness, especially in contrast to Jonah's character. God demonstrates His compassionate kindness throughout the entire story of Jonah. The story begins unfolds because God speaks to Jonah, a servant who doesn't share God's character or values. God speaks because He wants to show mercy to Nineveh, the people whose wickedness has come up before Him. God pursues Jonah because He is determined to show mercy to Nineveh. He prepares a great fish to preserve Jonah’s life, then recommissions His prophet, giving Jonah another chance to serve Him. God accepts the repentance and abasement of the Ninevites and relents from the disaster He had planned. Finally, God gives Jonah an object lesson that called him to change his thinking and adopt God...

Great fish: "Please remove your foot from my mouth." This weekend I had the privilege of writing a theology of Jonah, the Old Testament prophet. I enjoyed the project. The class spent four weeks translating and discussing the book and this paper gave us a chance to reflect on what we've learned and make some observations. Here's one I took away: God shows Himself to be the  Ruler of everything  in the book of Jonah, both by what God does and what Jonah is so bad at doing. Nothing can stop God from doing what He wants to do. Here's a list of examples: He caused a violent storm on the sea (1:4), caused the storm to dissipate (1:15), prepared a great fish to preserve Jonah (1:17), appointed a plant to grow (4:6), appointed a worm to strike the plant (4:7), appointed a hot wind to strike Jonah (4:8), and prepared judgment for Nineveh down to the very day (3:4). In contrast, when Jonah tried to assert his self-sovereignty by refusing God's summons for service a...

I happened to read Psalm 11 this morning as part of my devotions. Afterward, I opened my facebook feed to see this post from Ken Ham.​ He finishes the post by quoting Psalm 11:3, probably because of its convenient use of vocabulary that matches the theme of his post ("foundation"). Having just read this Psalm, quoting only verse 3 struck me as ironic. David begins this Psalm by saying, "In Yahweh I take refuge." Then David says to someone, "How can you say to my soul, 'Flee as a bird to your mountain;    For, behold, the wicked bend the bow, They make ready their arrow upon the string    To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed,    What can the righteous do?'" Someone is trying to terrify David with bad news. His response? In the second half of the Psalm, David shows how pointless this worrying is in light of the sovereignty, justice and grace of God. David wasn't bemoaning the state of t...

I've been reading 1 Corinthians carefully during my devotions for a couple of weeks, and wanted to share something I noticed today that I hadn't noticed before. I'm copying in the ESV text of 1 Cor. 1:19-31 because what I noticed is easier to show than tell. I'm highlighting related words and ideas in the same colors. 19 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise ? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom , it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom , 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and...