The Book of John tells two stories, back to back, of encounters between Jesus and individuals who came to him alone. Rather than being part of the crowds that thronged Jesus daily, these individuals talked with him privately. One sought him out in the dark of night and the other was approached by him under the blazing sun at noon. The two individuals were the priest Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well. The two stories, told in conjunction by John, clearly contrast in a number of ways, but also share something in common.
Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee and ultra-righteous member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, came to Jesus, John tells us, “by night” (John 3:1-21) in order to question him about his teachings. Nicodemus was part of the religious establishment of the time, and he clearly went to Jesus under the cover of darkness so as not to be seen and recognized. John’s record of the conversation between Jesus and the Pharisee shows us that Nicodemus was beginning to believe the truth, but he held back because of the opinions of his friends and colleagues.
The Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well outside the city of Sychar in Samaria came to draw water around noon (John 4:4-42), which was the hottest time of day when the fewest people would be at the well. It is unlikely that anyone would purposely plan a trip to the well at that time unless they wanted to avoid people. But, as someone doubtless shunned or shamed by her neighbors because of her sexual relations with a number of men, the Samaritan woman had good reason to go to the well at a time when she would not meet others. She doubtless went then because of her discomfort with her neighbors’ opinion of her.
The two individuals were worlds apart. Nicodemus was a respected member of the privileged religious elite in the Judean capital of Jerusalem; the Samaritan woman was a shamed individual from a despised culture in a rustic backwater of the country. Spiritually, Nicodemus may have needed help to see his sin and the Samaritan woman may have needed help to see her worth, but both individuals shared something in common – they both evidently feared the opinions of others and sought to avoid those who might look down on them.
It is unlikely that John juxtaposed his accounts of these individuals in the way he did without intending his readers to see the connection of fear implied in both stories. Whatever our background, whatever our own perception of our standing before God, we may adjust our behavior in order to cope with our inherent human fear of the opinions of others. But after meeting with the one they came to see was probably the Messiah, both individuals found the courage to act without shame and without cover.
Nicodemus later spoke with courage to remind his colleagues in the Sanhedrin that a person should be heard before being judged (John 7:50–51), and then, after the crucifixion, he helped to prepare the body of the reviled and executed Jesus for burial (John 19:39–42). In the same way, after meeting Jesus, the Samaritan woman – if she had been avoiding her neighbors – now found the courage to tell them all about the one she had met who was the Christ.
We may not be like Nicodemus or like the Samaritan woman. Perhaps our lives are being lived out somewhere between those of the two individuals, the saint and the serial sinner. But like them, if we have met with Jesus in our lives, we will be strengthened to live above the opinions of others when it comes to living out the truth.
* * * See also the latest blog post on our Living With Faith website here.
We are all familiar with the apostle Paul’s words to Timothy: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). This short passage is a classic example of how taking Bible verses out of context can limit our understanding of the overall message of the word of God. It is a passage that most Christians have seen quoted dozens if not hundreds of times and as such it becomes a kind of biblical “definition” of what the Bible is for.
The Scriptures are, of course, good for all these things – teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness – but we should not forget that they are not just about these things. In fact, none of them is the main point of the Bible (as Paul himself shows us).
When we view the Bible only in these terms, consciously or unconsciously, we tend to see the Bible as being relevant primarily to ourselves – what it can teach us about us and how we need to live, improve, and grow. It is always good to remember that we are not the subject of the Bible, but that God is. The Bible is not just the revelation from God, it is primarily the revelation about God.
In fact, if we look at Paul’s words in context, we see the real focus of the Scriptures is emphasized in the very verse directly before our “Bible definition” passage: “the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). In other words, the main point of the Scriptures is that they lead us to see God and to come to faith in his Son. As Paul put it in Romans: “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17). God has revealed himself through his word, the Bible, and his Word, his Son (John 1:1).
Looking back at our “definition” passage in 2 Timothy, we see that Paul follows those words by immediately speaking of “God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead” (2 Timothy 4:1). So the “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training” aspects of the Scriptures that we tend to think of as being so central to what the Bible is about are actually subsumed within what the Bible is telling us about God and Jesus Christ.
The Bible is ultimately the word of God about God. It is about him, his nature, righteousness, faithfulness, mercy, and love. Secondarily, it is about God’s works of creation, provision, judgment, deliverance, and his promised kingdom. It is about his covenant, and his promises, and his way of life. As such, it is indeed good for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training, but above all it is about God.
This is not simply an academic point – it has direct consequences for our study and understanding of the word of God. Our personal study should always ask the question “What does this verse show about God?” as well as – and often instead of – “How can I apply this verse?” When we study primarily to see what the Bible is telling us about ourselves and others, we can miss the even deeper, and in many ways more important, message about God.
Studying for personal application rather than just simply reading the biblical narrative as stories about distant people is important, but it should not replace a primary focus of studying the word of God to see God more clearly and then to seek his help to change to become more like him. If we study only for personal application, it can become a self-focusing pitfall; but if we study primarily to see God, our study of his word can be continually elevating.
The prophet Nathan served during the reigns of both King David and his son Solomon. Although Nathan was usually “behind the scenes” during the reigns of these kings, it is probable that no other single person was more influential during that pivotal era of biblical history.
Nathan is mentioned many times throughout the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles – mainly during the darkest and most troubled times of King David’s reign. We first meet him in 2 Samuel 7:2 when David told the prophet of his desire to build a temple for God. At first Nathan encouraged the king, but we are told that later that night God spoke to Nathan, telling him in detail why he would not accept a temple built by David, stressing that David had shed much blood (1 Chronicles 28:3).
It was not a flattering message to have to relay, but we see something of Nathan’s character in that he did not attempt to smooth over the reason for God’s refusal of David (or to cover the fact that he himself had been wrong to originally encourage the king) – we are specifically told that “Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation” (2 Samuel 7:17, emphasis added).
Later, Nathan had to confront David with the king’s sins of adultery with Bathsheba and of having her husband Uriah killed (2 Samuel 12:1-15). Considering the fact that David had already killed to hide this situation, we see Nathan’s tremendous strength of character and faith in boldly accusing the king. Nathan not only accused David as God had commanded him to do, but also predicted that David’s first child by Bathsheba would die, and that the king would suffer great anguish as a result of the actions of his own family members.
Close to the end of David’s life, Nathan related to David the news of his son Adonijah’s plan to seize the throne. In this way the prophet skillfully enabled the hasty coronation of David’s chosen heir – Solomon.
Nathan was not simply a bringer of bad news, however. He also encouraged the king and informed David that his throne would be established forever (1 Chronicles 17:1-15). He was clearly a trusted advisor throughout his service to the king and a man of important accomplishments. There appears to have been a book written either by Nathan himself or about his service as a prophet (1 Chronicles 29:29), and Nathan apparently wrote a history of King Solomon along with two others (2 Chronicles 9:29).
But Nathan’s major accomplishment was undoubtedly the true faith he repeatedly showed in expressing tough love for David and confronting the king with his errors. Nathan’s character and faithfulness in conveying the word of God, no matter how negative the message sometimes may have seemed, obviously gained him the respect of Israel’s greatest king. True to his name, the prophet surely was a “Gift of God” to David in helping him to correct his course when he went astray (for example, Psalm 51) – something the king must surely have appreciated over time. In fact, it is doubtless a sign of David’s respect and love for Nathan that the king named his third son after the prophet (1 Chronicles 3:5). And it is through that Nathan – not Solomon or any of David’s other powerful sons – that Jesus Christ was descended (Luke 3:31). The prophet Nathan served in a “behind the scenes” career, but one which had a tremendous effect for good. He is an example to all of us of the value of truth spoken in love, and of faith in dealing with difficult situations concerning those we strive to serve.
Most readers of the New Testament remember the dramatic story of how Jesus healed a blind man at the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem (John 9:1–11). The pool was a major feature of ancient Jerusalem as it was fed by spring waters which qualified it for use as a mikveh for ritual bathing. That is why Jesus told the man he healed “ ‘Go …wash in the Pool of Siloam’ … So the man went and washed, and came home seeing” (vs. 7).
The pool’s history predates the time of Jesus by many centuries, however. It was constructed by Hezekiah, the king of Judah in the eighth century B.C., who anticipated a siege against Jerusalem by invading Assyrian armies (2 Kings 20:20). So the pool began as an important source of fresh water for the inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem, and probably only later began to be used as a place of ritual bathing, as it evidently was in Jesus’ time.
Although the history of the Pool of Siloam was well known, its exact location was not. In 1880, the famous Siloam Inscription was discovered carved on the wall inside the water tunnel made by Hezekiah which led to the Pool of Siloam. The ancient Hebrew inscription records how the tunnel was constructed by digging from opposite ends and meeting in the middle. So the tunnel that supplied the pool’s water was known, yet the pool itself remained buried.
Traditionally, the site of the Siloam Pool was the pool and church that were built by the Byzantine empress Eudocia (c. A.D. 400–460) to commemorate the miracle recounted in the New Testament. However, the exact location of the original pool as it existed during the time of Jesus remained a mystery until only recently.
British-American excavations conducted in the 1890’s led to the uncovering of some of the steps of the pool itself near the City of David to the southeast of the traditional site, and in the 1960’s famed British archeologist Kathleen Kenyon found more of the steps. In 2004, municipal water company work exposed additional steps and subsequently Israel’s archaeological authority, the IAA, began systematic excavation of the area. Now the IAA has announced that it has confirmed that the pool was larger than previously thought – 225 feet wide and approximately 1.25 acres in area – and that steps existed on at least three sides of the pool, allowing visitors to sit and immerse themselves in the water. IAA also announced that a good portion of the pool is now excavated, and it is hoped that it will soon be opened to the public for the first time in 2,000 years.
The Pool of Siloam, “Hezekiah’s Tunnel,” and the texts and finds that have been unearthed in and around these sites are of great importance for understanding and establishing the biblical stories. According to Professor Gershon Galil, head of the Institute for Biblical Studies and Ancient History at Haifa University in Isarel, these finds “support the claim that scriptures in the Book of Kings are based on texts originating from chronicles and royal inscriptions and that the Bible reflects historical reality and not imagination.”
The Pool of Siloam is also important as part of the wider context of ancient evidence of the Jerusalem of Jesus’ time. According to the City of David Foundation’s Ze’ev Orenstein, “The half-mile running through the City of David, from the Pool of Siloam in the south, continuing along the Pilgrimage Road, up to the footsteps of the Western Wall, Southern Steps, and Temple Mount, represents the most [religiously] significant half-mile on the planet.” Archaeology continues to recover the buried world of the Old and New Testament stories, and – as Orenstein affirms – soon visitors to the area will be able to “see with their own eyes, touch with their own hands, and walk with their own feet upon the very stones” described in those stories.
“… let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).
Although these scriptures might seem to conflict at first sight, we should understand that they record two things said by Jesus on the same occasion – in the Sermon on the Mount. So it is unlikely that they really contradict each other. As is so often the case, we simply need to look at the context of each scripture.
In Matthew 5:16 Jesus’ words were part of an analogy he made of the disciple reflecting God’s light in a darkened world:
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).
In this analogy we see that it is the “light” of God’s way that shines in our lives if we are walking according to his will. Notice that people seeing this “light” would glorify not us, but God (vs. 16).
Matthew 6:1, however, records words spoken in a totally different context:
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:1-4).
In this case, Jesus was talking about the manner in which we give to others – that we should give discreetly and not for show or personal credit. So the two scriptures have totally different contexts. Matthew 5:16 is talking about the importance of good works in our lives, and Matthew 6:1 stresses that we must have a right motivation for our good works. This means that while we are called to be a light to the world, clearly showing God’s way in our lives, our good works must always be done from a motivation of love and concern for others – not through any selfish motivation such as “looking good” or to appear “religious” or “spiritual.” While Matthew 5:16 talks about how we appear to others, Matthew 6:1 deals with how we appear to God.
*For more information on the topic of Christian giving, download our free e-book The Way of Givinghere.
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