O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

It has now been shown that a synthesis of the historical, literary and theologicalanalyses all showed that Money can be presented as a rival god to the Christian. Anapplication for the modern day believer would be to heed Christ’s command and tostop prioritising the accumulation of wealth at the expense of Christ and HisKingdom. As Jesus in Matthew 6:19-34 does not give hands on practical advice onhow to do this, one could ask how one would know whether or not they areneglecting their allegiance to Jesus?Two points concluded from the literary analysis could answer this question. Firstly, ifone’s life is characterised by anxiety over items pertinent to human survival, thenone would know they are in a position of “little faith” and are essentially acting pagan.Secondly one can ask the question as to whether her or his life is characterised by aseeking of God’s Kingdom.The second aspect of money as a rival god is that God and money were presentedas two radically different gods. God was presented in the literary and theologicalanalyses as an all knowing benevolent Father who is keenly aware of the needs ofHis people. He was shown to have sovereign reign over all events and history.While not much of a description was given to money as a god, the differingconsequences of allegiance to God and money were noted, thus hinting towards thekind of master money makes: The worship of money results in accumulatingtransient treasures that will not last, as opposed to the eternal treasures stored inGod’s Kingdom.The worship of money would lead to a life that neglects the needs of others in need.It was noted in the literary examination of Matthew 6:22-23 that allegiance to Godcan be expressed through generosity. Thus worship of money is degenerate for thebelievers. The degenerate experience was seen in the metaphor of the bad eye,which shows that neglect of allegiance to God, in favour of worship of money,creates a stingy person.The worship of money was also shown to potentially create a person who isdeceived into thinking they are in fact good stewards with the wealth God has given93
them. The historical analyses highlighted how some of the wealthy in the Jewishcommunity exploited the poor. Thus stinginess and greed further degenerates theperson as they become a perpetrator adding to the loss of human dignity.Conversely the disciple who was shown to prioritise God through generosity toothers was shown to have a life characterised by purity, truth, blessing andrevelation. Further Matthew 6:25-34 showed a life lived in allegiance to God as onecharacterised by the alleviation of unnecessary anxiety. I.e. the correct attitudetowards the accumulation of wealth and God liberates one from anxiety. This is aliberation that Jesus as Saviour brings to His people.The literary analyses showed the correct use of money could be used for acts ofrighteousness and thus an advancement of God’s Kingdom, as opposed to the fearand anxiety that results from a worship of money. Something of the nature of livingunder God’s rule was noted in chapter six, and is worth mentioning here as it as itfurther highlights the radical difference in orientation of lifestyle for the disciple whorejects worship of Money for worship of God.For example, the motif of God’s Kingdom and living under God’s rule was shown toinclude a life involved with God’s eternal purposes: it was shown to includeparticipation with God in good works that transform other people’s lives and inexercising compassion. That the motif of stewardship, and the application ofstewardship of wealth can involve the disciple in such actions, dwarfs the anxietyriddendegenerate type of character that the worship of money creates.The application of money and God being radically different gods and the differingconsequences could be as follows: Firstly, by the disciple taking time to considerwho God is and the way He works (something which the literary analysis showedJesus to instruct) and taking time to consider the outcome of the idol worship ofmoney encourages a greater allegiance to Jesus. This is of course provided that oneactually does desire a life characterised by generosity, blessing, truth, purity andrevelation, as opposed to a life characterised by anxiety and stinginess.Coincidentally encouraging greater allegiance to Jesus was one of the statedpurposes of this thesis as outlined in chapter one.94
Page 1 and 2:
A BIBLICAL-THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF
Page 3 and 4:
ACKOWLEDGEMENTSI am eternally grate
Page 5 and 6:
TABLE OF CONTENTSCHAPTER 1: Introdu
Page 7 and 8:
6.2.5 Discipleship and Community…
Page 9 and 10:
sinfulness and pushes people toward
Page 11 and 12:
discourses in Matthew, is meant to
Page 13 and 14:
Christian disciple and money was an
Page 15 and 16:
NT text actually did occur and did
Page 17 and 18:
to have used it as a source (France
Page 19 and 20:
almost no evidence outside of the N
Page 21 and 22:
addressed.Jesus says things in the
Page 23 and 24:
The Jewish community was taxed very
Page 25 and 26:
finding the origin and purpose of M
Page 27:
instruction for the believing commu
Page 31 and 32:
Matthew will have continued pertine
Page 33 and 34:
Chapter 3Literary Analysis - Struct
Page 35 and 36:
etween 6:19-24 and 7:1-11 that is c
Page 37 and 38:
would not have ever found such a li
Page 39 and 40:
and 7:7-11 are worth noting:a) Both
Page 41 and 42:
appealing. He seems to at times ack
Page 43 and 44:
three parts.While the literary appr
Page 45 and 46:
Chapter 4Literary Analysis - Matthe
Page 47 and 48:
common to a teacher like Jesus woul
Page 49 and 50: treasures would be, but agrees that
Page 51 and 52: Blomberg (1992:123) shows that the
Page 53 and 54: Talbert (2006:122) argues this by r
Page 55 and 56: for God’s kingdom, it is in a bad
Page 57 and 58: The statement that one cannot serve
Page 59 and 60: Chapter FiveLiterary Analysis - Mat
Page 61 and 62: Moses. Even more significant is tha
Page 63 and 64: ightly notes that humans are more v
Page 65 and 66: Secondly, Henry’s argument that o
Page 67 and 68: Perhaps the point is not to cast So
Page 69 and 70: The second reason related to this p
Page 71 and 72: the scriptures that even the great
Page 73 and 74: more than what one eats and wears.
Page 75 and 76: CHAPTER SIXTHEOLOGICAL MOTIFS OF MA
Page 77 and 78: 6:19-34 and that this chapter would
Page 79 and 80: It has now been established that Th
Page 81 and 82: Kingdom requires its citizens to ha
Page 83 and 84: “our Father,” i.e. the Father o
Page 85 and 86: It must be noted that the Father-So
Page 87 and 88: Matthew 25:31-36 presents Jesus as
Page 89 and 90: unanimous among scholars. These rea
Page 91 and 92: Unger and White (1985:171) note tha
Page 93 and 94: interdependent interpersonal relati
Page 95 and 96: examples of how a disciple may prov
Page 97 and 98: Chapter SevenConclusion7.1 Introduc
Page 99: the accumulation of wealth over and
Page 103 and 104: preparedness to give up monetary pu
Page 105 and 106: e for the benefit of the believing
Page 107 and 108: captivity to sin. The SOM itself wa
Page 109 and 110: APPENDIX ONETALBERTS FORMAL DIVISIO
Page 111 and 112: BIBLIOGRAPHYAchtemeier PJ, Green JB
Page 113 and 114: Clowney EP 1988. Church. In SB Ferg
Page 115 and 116: Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishi
Page 117 and 118: Peter Laing Publishing.Lloyd-Jones
Page 119 and 120: 73-97.Smith KG 2008. Academic Writi
show all

O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?