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

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7.3 Assessing the HypothesisThe hypothesis as stated in chapter one essentially made two claims: Firstly it saidthat a biblical-theological analysis of Matthew 6:19-34 will show that money ispresented as a god that daily challenges the Christian disciple’s allegiance to Christ.It is fair to say that this first claim has been validated.It is also fair to say that this claim stops short of what was found in Matthew 6:19-34.Not only was money presented as a rival god but the passage teaches on a coupleof ways that allegiance to God is expressed over and above to money. I.e. throughgenerosity to others and a life characterised by seeking God’s kingdom.The passage also expanded on ways for the disciple to move from the idolatry ofmoney worship to allegiance to Jesus. I.e. by considering nature and what it teachesabout who the Heavenly Father is, and the way He works and cares for His own.Further the passage showed disciples that are carrying such a misplaced allegianceare commanded to stop the worship of money and prioritise allegiance to God.Secondly the hypothesis made the claim that Matthew 6:19-34 will teach thatchoosing to serve money leads to a degenerate experience for the disciple, whilechoosing to serve Christ will bring to the disciple a liberating experience in thepresent, and a rewarding experience in the future. Again, it is fair to say that thisclaim was validated.The degenerate experience of worshiping money was seen as the disciple beingstingy or in having a disposition where she or he is deceived into thinking she he isgenerous. What the hypothesis did not claim is that the demands of Matthew 6:19-34are expected to be lived out in community, and so part of the degenerate experiencein worshiping money is that the disciple could become a perpetrator of humandignity. I.e. by neglecting or suppressing others through one’s desire to accumulatewealth.The findings did show that choosing allegiance to God over money to be a liberatingexperience. Jesus was portrayed as a new Moses who leads his people from99
captivity to sin. The SOM itself was shown to carry the implication that freedom fromsin is possible. Thus the disciple in allegiance to God, is liberated from anxietyrelated to human survival.Notably the hypothesis did not mention what the disciple would be liberated from.Further, not only is allegiance to Christ liberating in the present but rewarding.Rewards related to obedience to God were shown to be both a present and futurereality, a point which the Hypothesis missed. Also, the Hypothesis missed anymention of the kind of attitude that would merit reward, i.e. one who obeys Christwithout any thought of reward.7.4 Suggested Areas of Future ResearchFirstly, as the church was presented in this thesis as God’s people in a covenant withHim, it would be helpful to explore the dimensions of what this covenant is, and theexpectations it may or may not have on its members. One goal would be to asseshow this covenant relationship would affect one’s attitude and actions to othermembers of a covenant community.In particular, and of course of interest to this author, an examination of how thedimensions of this covenant would affect the way a disciple stewards her or hiswealth in the context of this community. It would be helpful to examine the pros andcons of how different church communities have attempted to organise themselves to, out of obedience to Matthew 6:19-34, meet the needs of each other. For example,there are at this moment, communities of believers around the world organisingthemselves into self-sustaining commune-type organisations attempting to live outChristian discipleship in such an environment.Secondly, it was beyond the scope of this thesis to conduct a detailed exegesis ofevery passage that teaches on wealth in the scripture. While several other passageswere touched on, it would be helpful to conduct an exegesis of a passage like James5:1-6 in order to assess how this would add to the finding of Matthew 6:19-34. Thispassage in James is at times put forward by commentators as a passage built on anunderstanding of Matthew 6:19-34. One could research in order to compare findings100
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A BIBLICAL-THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF
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ACKOWLEDGEMENTSI am eternally grate
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TABLE OF CONTENTSCHAPTER 1: Introdu
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6.2.5 Discipleship and Community…
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sinfulness and pushes people toward
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discourses in Matthew, is meant to
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Christian disciple and money was an
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NT text actually did occur and did
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to have used it as a source (France
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almost no evidence outside of the N
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addressed.Jesus says things in the
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The Jewish community was taxed very
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finding the origin and purpose of M
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instruction for the believing commu
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Matthew will have continued pertine
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Chapter 3Literary Analysis - Struct
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etween 6:19-24 and 7:1-11 that is c
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would not have ever found such a li
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and 7:7-11 are worth noting:a) Both
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appealing. He seems to at times ack
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three parts.While the literary appr
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Chapter 4Literary Analysis - Matthe
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common to a teacher like Jesus woul
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treasures would be, but agrees that
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Blomberg (1992:123) shows that the
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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
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Page 75 and 76: CHAPTER SIXTHEOLOGICAL MOTIFS OF MA
Page 77 and 78: 6:19-34 and that this chapter would
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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
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Page 101 and 102: them. The historical analyses highl
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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
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