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Exodus 22:16-31: Social Justice Done God’s Way

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Having established basic human rights, even for society’s least, and basic property rights, to promote peace between one person and another, the Lord’s body of case laws moves on to bigger issues of social justice that will affect the entire community.

Observation of Exodus 22:16-31

Most repeated words: shall (21 times), you (20x), not (9), your (9), for (6), if (6), me (5), any (4), give (4), I (4), cry (3)

  • On this section’s list of repeated words, I’ve included some of the common “stop words” that I normally exclude. Usually, words like shall, you, your, for, me, and I aren’t terribly significant compared to other vocabulary used. But in this section, they take pre-eminence.
  • In particular, we see often in this passage the reasons (“for”) why “you” “shall” “not” do certain things.
    • And those reasons usually have to deal with what is true about “I” and “me” (Yahweh God).

This section is filled with reasons for the case laws—something lacking in the first two sections of instruction

  • We’ve seen the English word “for” before this, but only as a preposition (“it came for its hiring fee,” Ex 22:15), not a conjunction (“for you were sojourners,” Ex 22:21).
  • Ex 22:21: Don’t wrong a sojourner, for you were sojourners in Egypt.
  • Ex 22:23-24: If you mistreat widow and orphans, I (God) will hear their cry and make your wives widows and your children orphans (i.e. I will kill you).
  • Ex 22:27: Don’t take a poor person’s cloak as collateral, for that is his only covering.
  • Ex 22:27: If he cries out, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
  • Ex 22:31: Don’t eat roadkill, for you are consecrated (special) to me.

This section begins with a case of sexual impurity (Ex 23:16), and it ends with a case of dietary impurity (Ex 23:31).

  • In between, we have many cases dealing with broad societal issues, such as who may (not) live in the community (Ex 23:18-20), how the community treats aliens and the weak (Ex 23:21-27), and how the community treats God and its leadership (Ex 23:28-30).
  • All throughout, there are references to fathers, daughters, widows, wives, children, firstborn and sons. Lots of familial terminology.

Structure:

  1. 5 cases dealing with impurity in the community (Ex 23:16-20)
  2. 4 cases dealing with oppressive treatment of society’s weakest (Ex 23:21-27
  3. 4 cases dealing with insubordinate treatment of society’s leadership (Ex 23:28-30)
  4. 1 case demonstrating the implications of being a special people for God (Ex 23:31)

    Chris Potter (2012), Creative Commons

Interpretation of Exodus 22:16-31

Some possible questions:

  1. Which of the Ten Commandments are being applied here?
  2. Does God require a woman to marry her rapist (Ex 22:16, also Deut 22:28-29)?
  3. Why does this passage suddenly give so many reasons and purpose statements?

My answers (numbers correspond to the questions):

  1. Some of the cases are clear applications of “do not commit adultery” (Ex 22:16-17, 19). Ex 22:20 seems to apply “no other gods.” Ex 22:28 seems to apply “don’t take God’s name in vain.” But what do we do with the case of the sorceress (Ex 22:18)? Or moneylending (Ex 22:25-27)—is that about “do not steal”? The cases in Ex 22:16-31 are not as clear as the earlier sections were. But because of all the familial language, the rooting of many of these cases in the character and relationship of God with his people, and the fact that adultery has to do with much more than extramarital human sexual relations (e.g. see Hosea 1:2, 2:2, etc.)—for those three reasons, I’m inclined to see all of Ex 22:16-31 as applying the command “don’t commit adultery.” These cases deal with sexual ethics, as well as the purity of the community as the Bride of God. I wouldn’t fight too hard for this conclusion, but it’s where I’ve come to at this point.
  2. This interpretive question is not critical to understanding the whole passage, but I mention it because I think it’s a common question for those who accuse the Bible’s ethics of being barbaric or inhumane. In Ex 22:16, the sexual activity appears to be consensual and not rape, but I could be wrong; and anyway, Deut 22:28-29 clearly addresses the case of rape. And the focus of the text is not so much to require the victim to marry her attacker, as it is for the attacker to take on the responsibility of providing for his victim for the rest of her life. In ancient Israelite culture, a woman so violated would have been utterly forsaken and destitute for the rest of her life. The requirement for the rapist to marry her was a provision for her well-being. In today’s culture, we would probably apply the principle differently: requiring the attacker to pay lifelong “alimony” to his victim.
  3. This third question moves us much farther in interpretation. When God broadens his instructions out from detailed person-to-person dealings, and into the purity of the community, he makes sure to root the community’s sense of justice in his own love for these people. He is a father to these people. He is a vengeful husband to the oppressed. Nobody messes with his bride and gets away with it. We learn much about God’s compassion and ferocious commitment to those who have no other built-in social protection.

Train of thought:

  1. The community must maintain purity as the status quo.
  2. The community must care for the least.
  3. The community must do these things in submission to the Lord their God.

Main point: Social justice is rooted in God’s just character, and it flows from maintaining purity before him.

Connection to Christ: Jesus shows us the fulness of the character of God. He came to bring justice to the oppressed and declare freedom to captives. He did that by laying down his life to win for himself a true bride, whom he will one day present pure and spotless.

My Application of Exodus 22:16-31

Social justice begins in my home and my church, and it moves out from there to society. If we compromise purity before God, our attempts at justice get nowhere. If we don’t move out to bring justice, our attempts at purity before God are self-serving and ultimately unconvincing. As a husband, father, and church elder, I must persevere in protecting our purity and in persuading folks to keep looking outward to minister Christ’s justice to the nations. Our compassionate God expects it of us.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

Exodus 21:33-22:15: Private Property and Restitution

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From the start, God’s case laws show that his kingdom is not like the kingdoms of the world, because even the lowest in society have basic human rights. These rights affect the way we treat even one another’s property.

Observation of Exodus 21:33-22:15

Most repeated words: if (17 times), ox (11x), man (10), not (9), make (8), owner (8), beast (7), restitution (7), neighbor (6), sheep (6)

  • The shift from slavery and violence (Ex 20:22-21:32) to non-human property is clear even from the repeated words

As with the previous section, the main unit of grammar remains the sentence, but sentences are grouped into paragraphs that give alternative situations.

The theme of this entire section is restitution: paying someone back for what was lost, broken, or stolen.

  • Owners can be held liable for both active (Ex 21:35) and passive (Ex 21:33) negligence. It doesn’t matter whether they cause damage or simply fail to prevent it.
  • The basic penalty for theft is to repay double (Ex 22:4).
    • But high-handed profiteering from theft (killing or selling stolen beasts) requires much higher restitution, based on the profitability of the stolen goods.
  • Allowing something in your care to steal from another is still a form of theft (Ex 22:5). Owners and managers cannot make the argument that they’re not responsible for the theft that occurred under their leadership.
  • The issue of restitution can get complicated as it involves a “breach of trust” between one person and another (Ex 22:9).
  • Borrowers are responsible to care for possessions in their care, but lenders assume a level of risk they cannot control (Ex 22:7-15).
  • Sometimes there is not enough evidence to assign blame. In such cases, both parties must trust each other’s word and then God with the outcome (Ex 22:11).

Structure:

  • 3 cases of restoring damage from negligence (Ex 21:33-36)
  • 7 cases of restoring damage from theft (Ex 22:1-6)
  • 7 cases of restoring damage to borrowed property (Ex 22:7-15)

Interpretation of Exodus 21:33-22:15

Some possible questions:

  1. Why is it so important to hold people responsible for property damage? Why not just expect people to be generous and to share freely, overlooking any damage to their stuff?
  2. Why must thieves repay double what they stole?
  3. Why are there so many cases dealing with borrowed property?
  4. What are the implications for laws today about negligence or theft?

My answers (numbers correspond to the questions):

  1. From this text, I’m not sure there’s a complete answer, other than the fact that God cares about it. These case laws clearly apply the command “do not steal,” and thus highlight that command’s assumption of the right to hold private property. Of course God is generous, and he calls his people to be always generous and ready to share (1 Tim 6:18). But generosity is not at odds with the expectation that your neighbor will pay for the repairs if he backs his car into the side of your house.
  2. I can only guess at what the text implies, which is that the penalty for theft is to bring on you what you tried to bring on another. If you steal one sheep, you must pay back two sheep—which makes YOU the one who ends up down one sheep.
  3. Since the commands are applying “do not steal,” we might assume “stealing” means causing only intentional property damage. But the concept applies to many other areas, even when our negligence or failure to protect causes damage. God’s people don’t demand that others be generous with them; instead they pay what they owe and return borrowed items in the same or better condition. In fact, God’s standards for restitution involve a generous repayment not only for damaged property but also for lost time and trust.
  4. I’ll leave this question to the legislators, but it does make me wonder whether we’d better disincentivize fraud and theft if we followed these principles. Instead of flat fines, arbitrary fines, or even jail time, the threat of double restitution might cause more citizens and corporations to better count the cost of their negligent or fraudulent actions.

Antony Majanlahti (2005), Creative Commons

Train of thought: 

  • Pay back what you accidentally damage.
  • Pay back what you intentionally damage.
  • Pay back damage that occurs on your watch.

Main point: It is good and God-like to pay restitution for damage done to others’ property.

Connection to Christ: Jesus had everything taken from him (Luke 9:58, Matt 27:35), yet he never demanded payment (Luke 23:34). Jesus repays not double, but a hundredfold to those who suffer damages in his service (Mark 10:29-30).

My Application of Exodus 21:33-22:15

This may sound incredibly mundane, but this passage demands it: I must return the things I have borrowed from others, or pay to replace things damaged under my care. It is so easy for me to presume on the kindness of my friends and forget that I’ve borrowed their property. Eventually, borrowed items just become part of my collection once I forget who loaned them to me, but this is not okay.

Loving my neighbor as myself means I treat other people’s stuff as if it were my own. And I teach my children to do the same.

Yet at the same time, I truly can be graciously generous if others don’t do the same. Jesus is well able to repay whatever I lose in his name and for his service.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

Bible Study for Ordinary Canadians (And the Rest of Us)

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I recently had the opportunity to appear on Indoubt, a podcast for Back to the Bible Canada, where I spoke with host Isaac Dagneau about Bible study for ordinary people. We spoke about why believers study the Bible, how to do it, and what role the Holy Spirit plays in our Bible study. The 28-minute audio episode could serve as an introduction to the topic of Bible study for ordinary folks.

Check it out!

Exodus 20:22-21:32: Basic Human Rights

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With a few guiding principles in hand, we’re ready to look at the case laws delivered to Moses.

Observation of Exodus 20:22-21:32

Most repeated words: if (20 times), not (15x), slave (14), man (11), go (10), out (9), master (7), ox (7), then (7), when (7)

  • The frequent use of “if,” “then,” and “when” should not surprise us, as we’re dealing with specific applications of the Ten Commandments.
  • A major relationship in this section is that of slaves and their masters.

The grammar of the case laws consists of lists of relatively short statements, each describing a specific scenario. The sentences are arranged into groups, but the essential unit is the sentence.

Ex 20:22 is a narrative introduction (“And Yahweh said to Moses”), framing all the case laws into a single divine speech that doesn’t end until Ex 23:33.

  • However, Ex 20:22-26 appears to be an introduction to the case laws, since Ex 21:1 marks the main body of laws (“Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.”).

Grouping topics into paragraphs, and taking note of the narrative markers, yields the following structure:

  • Introduction to the case laws: The God who speaks from heaven gives 4 instructions about how he is to be worshiped—applying the commands for “no other gods” and “no graven images” (Ex 20:22-26).
  • Slavery: 8 instructions about possessing slaves—applying “do not steal.”
    • 4 instructions about male slaves (Ex 21:1-6)
    • 4 instructions about female slaves (Ex 21:7-11)
  • Violence: 16 instructions about conflict and assault—applying “do not murder.”
    • 3 instructions about murder and manslaughter (Ex 21:12-14)
    • 3 capital offenses involving parents and kidnapping—applying not only “do not murder” but also “honor father and mother” (Ex 21:15-17)
    • 6 instructions about humans assaulting one another (Ex 21:18-27)
      • A: 1 case of direct assault (Ex 21:18-19)
      • B: 2 cases of assaulting a slave (Ex 21:20-21)
      • A’: 2 cases of indirect assault on a pregnant bystander (Ex 21:22-25)
      • B’: 1 case (with 2 examples) of permanently injuring a slave (Ex 21:26-27)
    • 4 instructions about livestock assaulting humans (Ex 21:28-32)

      Les Stockton (2009), Creative Commons

Interpretation of Exodus 20:22-21:32

Some possible questions:

  1. Why do instructions about worship introduce the body of case laws?
  2. Why do the case laws begin with the topic of slavery?
  3. So what should we conclude the Bible teaches about slavery?
  4. What do these laws reveal about God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ?

My answers (numbers correspond to the questions):

  1. The Ten Commandments began with the topic of worship. This suggests that the foundation for everything we do is the worship of God. If we get worship wrong, we get everything else wrong as well. In addition, when the covenant is broken in Exodus 32, the Israelites transgress almost every instruction in Ex 20:22-26. The narrative thus highlights the primacy of these worship matters.
  2. Again, the Ten Commandments help, in that God introduces them with, “I am Yahweh your God…who brought you out of the house of slavery” (Ex 20:2). These people have just been lifted out of slavery; slavery is all they’ve ever known. Yet the Pharaohs were hardly model slave-masters. We could go back over Exodus 1-15 to show how the Pharaohs explicitly violated every one of the principles in Ex 21:1-11. In their new freedom, Israel must not do “slavery” the way it was done to them. They must not drift into what they’re used to. God’s kingdom is altogether different. In particular, slaves have rights. Even female slaves have rights. I believe no other ancient law code gives rights to slaves or to women or to slave women in this way—especially not in the law code’s first article.
  3. Does this mean that slavery is a good idea, commended by the Bible? I will defer this question for another day and another passage, as this text does not address it. But what this passage does teach—and what must be included in any discussion of the Bible’s teaching on slavery—is that slavery always has an end. It was never to be permanent (though we could quibble over the permanence of the voluntary slavery to a generous, humane, and inspirational master in Ex 21:4-6). In the seventh year, slaves were to go free. When mistreated or denied their rights, slaves were to go free. And kidnapping people for the slave trade was a capital offense (Ex 21:16).
  4. God is not like the gods of other nations. God cares about those who usually go uncared for, and who may be unable to care for themselves. God values life, peace, and justice for the oppressed. God instills humanity with basic rights to life and liberty. God holds owners responsible for patterns of behavior even in their animals. God’s justice means, when harm is done, life must be given for life, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. Wrongdoing cannot go unpunished in his kingdom.

Train of thought:

  • Worship the unique God uniquely
  • Protect the rights of even society’s lowest
  • Value life and peace over self-advancement

Main point: God’s kingdom is different from the world’s kingdoms in that all its citizens have rights, and justice is the cost of living.

Connection to Christ: Jesus took on the form of a slave to rescue us from our bondage to sin. By his wounds we are healed. Jesus gave his life to pay for our violation of God’s justice. Jesus is God over all, who is blessed forever. Amen.

My Application of Exodus 20:22-21:32

Though God has given me real authority as a parent, he also expects me to honor the rights of my household members. Even if I feel rushed, annoyed, upset, or discouraged that the same issue keeps coming up, my children deserve to be treated with respect. They have the right to an opinion. They have the right to a hearing. They have the right not to be condemned and punished on the testimony of a single embittered sibling. They have the right to know why I’m asking what I’m asking. When I meditate on how justice works in God’s kingdom, I’m motivated to much greater patience and compassion as a leader.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

The Myth of Literal Bible Translations

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Because this blog is for ordinary people, who don’t typically know Greek or Hebrew, we don’t write much about translation issues. But once in a while there’s an opportunity to speak to an issue that impacts ordinary Bible readers broadly. One such issue is the popular, yet misleading, assumption that some English Bible translations are more literal than others.

Bill Mounce, Greek scholar and author of one of the best-selling Biblical Greek textbooks, wrote recently about translation philosophies, and the popular misconceptions of what they mean. Mounce has served on translation committees for both the ESV and the NIV, so he’s well qualified to comment on a variety of philosophies.

Speaking about the two main categories, he writes:

Most people say there are two translation camps, formal equivalent [word-for-word] and functional equivalent (or dynamic equivalent) [thought-for-thought]. The longer I am in translation work, the more I see how simplistic this division is.

There actually are five methods on translation with three sub-categories for the handling of gender language. Translations are all on a continuum, overlapping one another, and hence it is misleading to picture them as different points on a line. I am guessing, but for example, about eighty percent of the ESV and the NIV are the same, once you account for different translations of individual words.

Mounce goes on to explain that, except for a few interlinear Bibles (which aren’t really English translations), no English Bible is literal.

The word “literal” should never be used of any other form of translation since all of them, every single one, despite their marketing, rarely translate word-for-word. They will say they translate word-for-word unless it does not make sense or misinforms, but that is a red herring argument. They are never consistently word-for-word, unless you can find a translation that translates John 3:16 as, “in this way for loved the God the world so that the Son the only he gave in order that each the believing into him not perish but have life eternal.” No Bible on the market is “literal.”

Mounce goes on to describe more nuanced categories of translation, which should inform how we think about our English Bibles. In addition, he addresses the matter of gender language, arguing that there is no English translation in existence that is “gender neutral,” and we should not ignorantly use the term to describe any well-known, modern English Bible.

Mounce’s full article is useful and easy to read; it uses no Greek. Check it out!

6 Principles for Understanding the Case Laws of Exodus

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When Yahweh thundered from heaven, without Moses’ mediation, he immortalized the Ten Commandments. So we teach them to our children, we picture them in stained glass, and we bring them to bear on public life. Christian interpreters legitimately differ on the best way to apply the Sabbath commandment (Rom 14:5), but it is widely acknowledged that the Ten Commandments contain the moral will of God in summary form.

Yet we find greater divergence of opinion when we come to the case laws, the “Book of the Covenant” (Ex 24:7), immediately after the Ten Commandments. How are we to understand ancient slavery, the death penalty, goring oxen, five-fold restitution, road kill, wandering donkeys, and the festival in the month of Abib? As I scan the Exodus commentaries on my shelf, Exodus 21-23 is the section most often skipped or summarized in a mere page or two. Even the extensive tabernacle narratives get substantive attention, as interpreters love discussing how Jesus is the light, the bread, the living water, and the embodied presence of God. But the case laws?

Jan Buchholtz (2013), Creative Commons

Granted, Paul fills his letters with strong statements about the law: No one is justified before God by the law (Gal 3:11). Christ redeemed us from the law’s curse (Gal 3:13). You have died to the law through the body of Christ (Rom 7:4). God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do (Rom 8:3). You are not under law, but under grace (Rom 6:14). The power of sin is the law (1 Cor 15:56).

And sometimes Jesus is accused of breaking the law because of his love: touching a leper (Matt 8:3), eating sacred bread (Mark 2:26), breaking the Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17), and overturning fundamental principles of Old Testament justice (Matt 5:38-39).

So how should Christians of the 21st century understand the case laws in Exodus?

Guiding Principles

1. The law cannot save.

The laws given by God in covenant with his people had much glory. Yet the glory was temporary and fading; Moses veiled his face to conceal this fact (Ex 34:33-35, 2 Cor 3:7, 13). The law can give direction (Ps 119:105), but it cannot produce obedience or righteousness (Gal 3:11). Any attempt to turn bad people into good people through the coercion of law will fail. I’d prefer not to begin with what the law can’t do, but we need constant reminders of this fundamental impossibility.

2. Jesus and Paul validated the case laws.

I could point to the big law-statements Jesus makes, such as “not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt 5:18), but the impact of those statements is still disputed. So instead, I’ll remind you that Jesus and Paul assume the ongoing validity of the case laws, when they quote them to support their teaching or choices. We tend to skip over the fact, but Jesus affirms—in two Gospels—the death penalty for those who “revile father or mother” (Ex 21:17, Matt 15:4, Mark 7:10). And Paul quotes the case law from Ex 22:28 as normative Christian behavior in Acts 23:5. (Though I think he’s being cheeky and not a little mocking, showing he knows the law better than the high priest who ordered him to be struck. How could Paul not know which member of the council was the high priest?)

3. The case laws apply the Ten Commandments.

As you read the case laws, don’t get lost in their seemingly random nature, as though the case laws are time-bound, culture-bound, generational minutiae. Yes, they apply the principles of God’s moral will to certain people at a certain time in a certain cultural context. All the details will not be the same for all people everywhere. But don’t disregard them on that account. Instead, figure out which of the Ten Commandments is being applied, and figure out how it is being applied. This will give you wisdom to learn how to apply them in our context. For example, without the case laws, how would you know what counts as murder (manslaughter, etc.), and what doesn’t (just warfare, civil sentence, etc.)? How would you know what to do with an apprehended thief? What does it really mean to take God’s name in vain?

4. The case laws are particular applications, not universal principles.

This follows from point #3. Since the case laws are applications of universal principles, they are not themselves universal principles. This means they may have limited application in their canonized form. God has since revealed more about himself, so we may apply the principles of sabbath or tithing or restitution a little differently. But we should still learn from the case laws what it looks like to apply the Ten Commandments at all. Armed with such a template, and with the Spirit of God illuminating the rest of the word of God, we can figure out how to apply those commandments to our situation.

5. The case laws reveal God’s character.

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). God’s word will carry out his purpose of creating worshipers (Is 55:10-12). We know God, in all his glory, through the things he has revealed (Ps 19:1-14). We miss part of what God wants us to know about himself if we skip the case laws or disregard them. In studying them, we’ll behold God’s great mercy and justice in action. Believe it or not, I’ve heard stories of people from non-Western cultures coming to faith in Christ by reading the case laws, as they had never seen such mercy and justice working in perfect harmony except through the cross.

6. The case laws reveal Jesus.

All the Law and the Prophets are about Jesus (Luke 24:27). When considering double restitution of what was stolen, we’re amazed at Jesus who gave everything for those who stole from him. When contemplating the freeing of slaves in their 7th year, we’re humbled by Jesus, who took on the form of a bondservant to become a priest forever. When we’re told not to exact interest from the disadvantaged, we can’t help but see Jesus, who became poor so we, through his poverty, could become rich. When we read about the Feasts of Unleavened Bread, Harvest, and Ingathering, we’re reminded that in Jesus we have a continual feast.

But we’ll either miss these things, or not understand how marvelous they truly are, if we don’t take the time to study the case laws.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

When Being “Christ-Centered” Goes Too Far

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Writing for Logos Bible software, Mark Ward summarizes an article from a recent theological journal, explaining the unhelpful extreme side of “Christ-centeredness.”

I think the swing [away from Christ-less moralizing] has done great good: American Christianity has indeed suffered under man-centered readings of the Bible which offer all law and no gospel, all duty and no delight, all rules and no relationship. And yet the ease with which I just tossed off those three slogans points to the pendulum problem: any time a movement reaches the slogan-generating stage, people will go trampling over necessary nuances to grab their party’s banners and wave them at their enemies. Pretty soon the pendulum picks up so much speed that it whooshes way past plumb.

Ward then summarizes a theological journal article which analyzes Psalm 15 and shows us how to read it in its original context. There ought to be a category in our thinking for “meaningful if imperfect obedience,” as we see on the part of Noah, Simeon, and others. Being Christ-centered does not mean we speak only of our sins and failures.

Check it out!

Table of Contents for Exodus Series

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In Exodus 5:2, Egypt’s Pharaoh asks a fateful question that the book of Exodus endeavors to answer in three acts: “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey his voice?”

  • Act I: Yahweh Demolishes the House of Slavery (Ex 1-15)
  • Act II: Yahweh Prepares to Rebuild (Ex 16-18)
  • Act III: Yahweh Builds His House in the Midst of His People (Ex 19-40)

I created a table of contents page for my series of sample Bible studies on Exodus. If you missed anything, or if you want to get a bird’s-eye view of the series, including what’s to come, check it out!

You can also find it anytime from the site’s menu bar: Hover over OIA Method, then Examples. Then click on Who is Yahweh: Exodus.

 

Not By Sermons and Books Alone

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Following up on last week’s “check it out,” John Piper was asked if he plans to write a commentary on the Bible. After saying no, he elaborates:

I suppose there is a kind of commentary that would put the emphasis on helping people find the meaning themselves. That’s the kind I would want to write if I wrote a commentary, because there’s a deep conviction behind this; namely, that over the long haul, strong Christians are created not by sermons and by books alone, but by a personal encounter with the word of God, the Bible itself.

Piper goes on to explain what sort of questions he’d like to see commentaries (and the people who read them) ask.

It’s a great, short answer to an excellent question. Check it out!