Made For Worship

Honoring and Representing God In Our Lives, In Our Bodies, and In Our Beds Genesis 1:26-27 (NASB)
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man [humanity] in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and overall the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man [humanity] in His own image, in the image of God He [God] created [it]; male and female He [God] created them

I. Context of Genesis 1: Organizing Creation in Holy Time a. Against similar creation stories in the Ancient Near East that focus on violence, chaos, and warring gods, Genesis 1 emphasizes the order of creation under Gods control. b. Genesis 1 is built around a clear literary structure wherein God first creates the different realms of creation and then fills each with life. This climaxes with the establishment of Sabbath as the end of creation in which the goodness of Gods work is celebrated by God. This sets up the order of time and also the purpose of time (the worship of the God who made all things good).
Day 1 Light/Dark Day 4 Sun, moon, stars Day 2 Sky/water Day 5 Birds/Fish Day 3 Land Day 6 Animals, humans SABBATH

II. Let us make a human in our image, according to our likenesslet us make them i. The Hebrew word for image ( tzelem) not only referred to images/icons but also royal images/statues set up by kings and queens to represent and assert their authority in their absence. By analogy, humanity is set up as living icons of Gods rule over the universe. ii. Our ultimate example of acting as Gods image is Jesus (Colossians 1:15) who holds all things together and through whom God forges peace and reconciliation (Col. 1:20). iii. The idea is that each human, and collectively ALL humanity, reflect Gods image, pointing back to the God who made them and who uses them.

Copyright 2012 Rev. Darren McDonald. No alterations to these notes may be made without the express written permission of the author.

III. Male and female, God created them a. Linguistically, this can be understood as a merism meant to encompass ALL people by citing parts of the whole (like God created the heavens and the earth can be understood as God created the entire universe or God knows my sitting down and my rising up can mean God knows all of my actions). b. This should not be taken as God making only cisgender men and women or that there are only two polar opposite genders. This does not, for example, deny that God created intersex people (if anything, it sort of suggests that Gods gender is best understood as intersex). c. I would argue against interpreters who argue that it is only in the male/female sexual relationship that people bear Gods image. i. By first mentioning the human, the text suggests that individuals bear the image of God ii. If one only participates in the image of God through heterosexual union this leaves a number of people out of the image of God (likely including Jesus, Paul, and many of the disciples) IV. Be fruitful and multiply a. Procreation is Gods blessing of humanity, not a requirement for humanity b. This blessing of humanity reflects Gods similar blessing of all animals (and hence this is not how humanity uniquely images God). c. This blessing is particularly important for the original readers of Genesis, as Israel was a numerically tiny nation that had been historically dominated by larger nations like Egypt and Babylon. d. This is not a command for every individual, and it is not the only purpose of sex. i. This denies participation in the image of God to the single and the barren, and denies sex to those too old to have birth ii. Its possible for humanity as a species to be fruitful and multiply without each individual of our species reproducing (it takes a village). iii. Scripture celebrates sex within a covenanted relationship as a good gift of God 1. Proverbs 5:19 May her breasts satisfy you always (NIV) 2. Song of Songs 5:3-4, 14 I belong to my lover and my lover belongs to me. My lover sent his hand through the hole, and my innards roiled toward himHis member is an ivory tusk

Copyright 2012 Rev. Darren McDonald. No alterations to these notes may be made without the express written permission of the author.

Romans 1:18-2:1 (NASB) 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men [humanity] who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world Gods invisible attributes, Gods eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor God as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man [humanity] and of birds and fourfooted animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil ; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice ; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful ; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. 2:1 Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself ; for you who judge practice the same things. I. Literary Context within Pauls Letter to the Romans a. The point Paul is building up to that there is no distinction between Gentiles and Jews, as all are dependent upon God for their righteousness No one is righteous apart from the righteousness of Jesus which is applied to us through faith (Romans 3:22-28; 4:24). b. Rhetorically, Paul is undermining his audiences divisive pride
Copyright 2012 Rev. Darren McDonald. No alterations to these notes may be made without the express written permission of the author.

i. Paul is reeling in his audience by using stereotypes about GrecoRoman culture (similar to that found in the Wisdom of Solomon and other Jewish writings that would have been available to Paul) that would make the Jewish members of the Roman church feel superior to their gentile neighbors. 1. He does this so that he can pull the rug out from under them in 2:1 with the phrase for you who judge practice the same things. 2. Paul reverses this move in Romans 9:30-33 3. As Countryman (2003) explains, argues it is deeply distressing that Romans 1 and 9 have come to be read as affirmations of Christian cultural prejudices, whether against same-gender sexual partners or against Jews. Passages that began as entrapments for the prod have now become bulwarks of our pride.It is obscene that what began as an exercise in exposing the self confidence of the proud has so long been an excuse for Christian arrogance and violence against gay-lesbian people and Jews II. Cultural Context: Invective against temple prostitution a. The religion of the great mother goddess (Magna Mater), though one of the worlds most ancient religions (dating back to 6000 BC, had recently gained political support from Claudius (50 AD). b. Various forms of this religion had become widespread by the time of Pauls missionary travels, as we can see in Acts 19:3 where Ephesus riots in response to Pauls preaching, and one of the citys leaders exclaims, c. In the competition between Christian and pagan in the ancient world, neither side hesitated to broadcast the most outrageous and shocking accusations against its opponents in the most inflammatory rhetoric it could muster (Roscoe, 1996, p. 195) d. Temple prostitution was associated with this religion, and the bible is united in its condemnation of temple prostitution both in the Old Testament (Deut. 23:17; 1 Kgs 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kgs 23:7; Job 36:4; Hos 4:14) and the New Testament (Phil. 3:2-3). Phillipians 3:2 includes what is likely a reference to some of the priests of this religion and their act of castration (self-mutilation) e. Temple prostitution included i. Seeking to control the goddess 1. Seeking to gain favor from a hostile and angry goddess through ecstatic, manic, displays of eroticism and self-harm
Copyright 2012 Rev. Darren McDonald. No alterations to these notes may be made without the express written permission of the author.

2. Seeking to gain luck/fortune through anal sex with both male and female temple priests. ii. Believing that their bodies belonged to that goddess and demonstrating that belief through ecstatic self-castration (For example, self-castration of the temple priests of Ishtar was meant to show her mighty power through Ishtars ability to change the priests gender for ever). III. Wrath of God.God gave them over Notice the order here: Paul does not say that God is wrathful because of the sex practices of the pagan gentiles. Rather, Paul is saying, God has given them over to the nastier parts of pagan culture bas punishment for idolatry IV. Contrary to nature a. Here, nature should be understood as theological determinism rather than biological determinism b. The argument is that, through their idolatry, humanity has exchanged their Creator and created purpose to worship that Creator, for idols. God has, consequently, given them over to a world not ruled by God but ruled by idolatry and the consequences of a life shaped not by God but by idolatry (illustrated in detail with the sex practices of contemporary pagan cults and more generally by the list of vices in 1:29-31. c. God, and not nature, is in control. According to Romans, God acts contrary to nature at two key points that change the course of salvation history i. The same phrase ( against nature) is used to describe God changing the course of history by including Gentiles in the people of faith who receive Gods mercy through Gods act of grafting the wild Gentile branch into the cultivate Jewish olive tree. ii. The same word for nature () is used to describe those who are not circumcised. This implies that circumcision (and thus Gods marking of Israel as Gods people) is also unnatural.

V. Their women exchanged.likewise men with men a. This is linked not by the same sort of sexual practice but by the act of exchanging natural for unnatural sex b. Up until the latter part of the 4th century (John Crysottom and Ambrosiaster), the early church did not read this passage as referring to c. This is important, because most anti-LGB scholars base their misinterpretation of this passage as referring to all same sex intercourse
Copyright 2012 Rev. Darren McDonald. No alterations to these notes may be made without the express written permission of the author.

on the mistaken belief that Romans 1:26 refers to intercourse between women d. References to same sex intercourse between women was rare in the Hellenistic period, and completely lacking in the intertestamental Jewish sources that Paul appears to be relying upon (the Wisdom of Solomon) VI. Receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error can be read as either a. A reference to the temple prostitute practice of self-castration b. A reference to the degrading pagan culture to which God has given them over

For Discussion & Further Reflection If our purpose is to point each other towards God and to join together in worshipping God, how might we better integrate worship and the image of God into our sex lives? Countryman, William L. Dirt, Greed, & Sex: Sexual Ethics in the New Testament and Their Implications for Today. 2nd ed. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress. 2003. Roscoe, W. (1996). Priests of the Goddess: Gender Transgression in Ancient Religion. History of Religion 35(3) (1996): 195-210. Townsley, J. Paul, the Goddess Religions, and Queer Sects: Romans 1:23-28. Journal of Biblical Literature 130(4) (2011): 707-728.

Copyright 2012 Rev. Darren McDonald. No alterations to these notes may be made without the express written permission of the author.