History of Print

This week, instead of class, we attended the Crandall Printing Museum, which contains artifacts and recreations from the history of printing until the early 1900's. What an experience! They have one of the two working Gutenberg (full scale model) presses in existence in the world. They also have the tools to make the type used in the printing presses, and they demonstrated how this was done, using a mold and printers alloy. Quite interesting!

Paul's Journey to Jerusalem

One of Luke's purposes, when writing the book of Acts, was to show the fulfillment of the prophesy given to Paul that he would bear witness of Christ to Jews, Gentiles, Rulers, and Kings. Until Paul's journey to Jerusalem, he had witnessed to Jews and Gentiles, but we have little record of Rulers and Kings. It was on this trip, and the journey it caused, that Paul was given opportunity to witness to the rulers and King of the Jewish nation, and was sent as far as Rome to bear witness.

Types and Shadows

This week, our New Testament class visited the BYU Museum of Art, which has an exhibit currently, entitled Types and Shadows: Intimations of Divinity. The exhibit displays religiously themed art pieces, though not all are of scriptural stories or display characters of religion. The purpose of many of the pieces is to get one to think about our Savior in new ways, or see how the gospel affects our daily life. One of my favorites displayed two chairs against a black square background, one chair fallen before the first. The upright chair is cloaked in white, while the other is cloaked in red. It symbolized many things, but the main image it brought to my mind was of the fallen and risen Lord.

There were many thought provoking works in this exhibit- if it comes to a museum of art near you, I recommend taking a look. It will only be on display here until the 13th of March.

Romans

This week in my New Testament class we read and studied Paul's epistle to the Romans. This epistle is unique for many reasons: It is the longest of the Pauline epistles, it is the only one that scholars was dictated directly by Paul (based on the words used and the word rhythm) instead of being edited by a scribe, and this is the only Epistle written by Paul to an area that he has not yet preached to. There are many interesting things to be learned from a study of Romans, and I am going to detail a few of them here.

In chapter 1, verse 1, Paul states that he is a servant of Christ. In the original Greek, this would have been written as "slave", instead of servant. This is in reference to the Hebrew idea of slavery- everyone is a slave of someone, and being a slave does not mean they have the right to mistreat you, but that you need to do as they say and you need to serve them. In the larger scheme of things, one must either server God or the Devil, and Paul is here saying that he was captured by Christ and is his slave, and that Christ is the perfect master.

In chapter 2, verses 13-15, an interesting idea is brought up. Paul states that hearing and knowing the word of God does nothing for you, if you do not live it. He references the gentiles who are with out the law, yet still are good people and do not commit adultery, or lie, or steal. They are more righteous, even not knowing the law, then those Jews who know the law and do not keep it. He goes on to state that if Christians preach the word of God, and do not live it, then it makes the church look hypocritical, and hurts the work of the Lord. In the end, what matters most is not the outward circumcision, but the inward. Do you really follow the Lord? Or just do the things people expect a follower of Christ will do?

Chapter 3, from 24 on, explains how Christ was given by God to be a sacrifice for our sins. This idea of sacrifice is different both from the Greek and the Jew. The Greeks sacrificed to their gods to buy favor with them. It was a business transaction. Jews would save up and sacrifice of their own goods, not to buy favor, but to worship their God and to gain forgiveness for their sins. But Christ was a sacrifice not of our own goods or our own worth, but was given by God, who Christ was sacrificed to. God provided the sacrifice that brings us back into His presence. It is nothing we did, and it was nothing we could do. Only Christ could sacrifice enough to pay the debt, and only from God could that sacrifice come. It is interesting to look at the differences in thought between the modes of sacrifice. Hebrew sacrifice comes closest, but still misses the pure majesty and Grace of Christ's sacrifice for us.