31 Aug2011

Handelinge 9:20-31 – Barnabas ontferm hom oor Saulus en word die borg vir sy bediening

Written by Chris van Wyk. Posted in Handelinge

Saulus se bekering is radikaal en absoluut. En die ontmoeting met Jesus het ’n passie in hom aangesteek wat nooit weer sou verflou nie. Let op hoe hy onmiddellik dieselfde sisteem wat hy so hart en siel ondersteun het – die Joodse teenstand teen die evangelie – met passie aanvat en bedien met die evangelie soos die Skrifte dit uitgelê het. Omdat hy ’n skrifgeleerde van formaat was, kon hy dit met baie groot oortuiging doen.

Die teenstand van die Jode bly natuurlik nie lank onder die oppervlakte nie, en hulle beplan om hom dood te maak, en hy moet self vlug uit die stad. Letterlik staan dit in die Griekse teks, dat sy “dissipels” dws sy bekeerlinge hom help ontsnap.

Sonder Barnabas sou dié geskiedenis waarskynlik nooit gebeur het nie. Saulus se wrede poging om die kerk uit te roei (Hand 8:3) het steeds te veel teen hom getel. Barnabas, wat ons in sy primêre rol as bemoediger aan die werk sien, verskyn egter op die toneel. Hy ontferm hom oor Saulus as niemand iets met hom te doen wil hê in Jerusalem kort na sy bekering nie. Barnabas se aanvaarding van Saulus was dus die poort waardeur die bediening van Saulus ’n kans gekry het om te ontwikkel, en dit sou uiteindelik die hele Christelike bediening transformeer.

Let op hoe Lukas dit vertel: Barnabas dra Saulus se verhaal oor deur eerstens op twee dinge klem te lê wat God gedoen het: Saulus het Jesus gesien, en die Here het met hom gepraat – albei dinge wat baie belangrik vir sy uiteindelike status en aanvaarding as apostel sou wees. En daarby lê hy klem op wat Saulus direk na sy bekering gedoen het: hy het openlik in Damaskus in die Naam van Jesus gepreek, presies die teenoorgestelde as waarvoor hy daarheen deur die hoëpriester gestuur is.

Dit lei uiteindelik tot ’n openbare erkenning van sy bediening – letterlik staan daar, hy kon “in en uit Jerusalem gaan saam met hulle” – hoewel daar steeds Grieksprekende Jode was wat hierdie verraaier vyandig gesind gebly het en hom wou vermoor. Dit noop die gelowiges om hom weg te stuur na Sesarea en daarvandaan na Tarsus toe, sy tuisdorp, ter wille van sy eie veiligheid.

Uit die verdere verloop van die verhaal weet ons dat dit nie ’n uitskuif-en-vergeet aksie was nie. Saulus gaan in dié tyd deur ’n intense voorbereiding. Presies wat dit behels het, word ons nooit vertel nie, maar hy word uiteindelik deur dieselfde Barnabas na die aktiewe bediening in die eerste gemengde gemeente, Antiogië, genooi.

View all posts in this series

Tags: Handelinge

Trackback from your site.

Chris van Wyk

Ek is gemeenteleraar by Somerstrand gemeente, Port Elizabeth. My passie in die lewe is om God bo alles te dien en gelowiges in geloofsvorming te begelei. I am pastor at Summerstrand congregation, Port Elizabeth. My passion in life is to serve God above all and to lead believers in faith formation.

Chris van Wyk

Jul 26, 2021 | #

Tate haal Mayer aan wat ‘n Babiloniese gebed aanhaal om die Psalm se betekenis te verklaar: “I call to you from distantness; hear me from nearness.” In Duits: “Ich rufe dich von ferne, höre mich von nahe.” Hier is Tate se volledige verduideliking van die betekenis van die Psalm.

The main value of this psalm probably lies in its metaphorical richness. The metaphors of the high rock, the strong tower, the perpetual dwelling in the tent of God, and the shelter under the divine wings enhance the prayer and contribute significantly to our repertoire of spiritual imagination. A well-stocked and fertile imagination is essential for spiritual strength, a strength that influences the whole being of the person and/or group that possesses it. The metaphors assist us to incorporate our own experience into the experience of prayer. Prayer should engage imagination both toward the one praying and toward God. The metaphors of the psalm pass into our own experience and expand our horizons. Walter Brueggemann has written of the Psalms:

The Psalms do not insist that we follow word for word and line by line, but they intend us to have great freedom to engage our imagination toward the Holy God.… We will take liberties as the Psalm passes by and moves out into the richness of our experience and then back into the awesome presence of God. That is the way of metaphor (Praying the Psalms [Winona, MN: Saint Mary’s Press, 1982], 35).

Without a good stock of metaphors and an active imagination, our prayers are crippled and reduced to flattened, formulaic expressions without much power.
Perhaps the dominant metaphor in the psalm is that of distance from God in v 3. A sense of far-awayness from the divine presence, an at-the-end-of the earth experience, seems to be endemic to the spiritual life from time to time (see, e.g., Pss 2:1; 10:1; 22:2, 12, 20; 35:22; 38:22 [21]; 71:12). Indeed, it is almost a continuous need: “The psalmist is here describing the human condition in existentialist terms: man constantly stands at the edge of the abyss, and only divine assistance can prevent his falling into it” (Dahood, II, 84). Werner R. Mayer discusses a provocative Babylonian prayer formula which says, “I call to you from distantness; hear me from nearness” (“ ‘Ich rufe dich von ferne, höre mich von nahe,’ ” 302–17). The formula seems to mean that prayer suspends the distantness between the supplicant and the deity. Breaking down a perceived distance and the creation of sense of nearness and presence is a major function of prayer. The Psalms are of great importance in the recognition of distantness, which results from various kinds of stress and distress, and in the closing of that gap, which threatens spiritual health and even life itself. The very recitation of psalms like 61 serves to diminish distance and enhance nearness and presence.

Tate, M.E., 1998. Psalms 51–100, Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

Onlangse kommentaar

Chris van Wyk

Jul 26, 2021 | #

Dankie.
Chris van Wyk

Jul 26, 2021 | #

Hi Loretta – jy is welkom. Jy kan by hierdie webtuiste inteken (https://bybelskool.com/subscribe/) of vir my jou selnommer stuur, dan stuur ek vir jou die bydraes per Whatsapp (Chris van Wyk – nul agt twee 574 9191).
Chris van Wyk

Jul 26, 2021 | #

Tate haal Mayer aan wat ‘n Babiloniese gebed aanhaal om die Psalm se betekenis te verklaar: “I call to you from distantness; hear me from nearness.” In Duits: “Ich rufe dich von ferne, höre mich von nahe.” Hier is Tate se volledige verduideliking van die betekenis van die Psalm.

The main value of this psalm probably lies in its metaphorical richness. The metaphors of the high rock, the strong tower, the perpetual dwelling in the tent of God, and the shelter under the divine wings enhance the prayer and contribute significantly to our repertoire of spiritual imagination. A well-stocked and fertile imagination is essential for spiritual strength, a strength that influences the whole being of the person and/or group that possesses it. The metaphors assist us to incorporate our own experience into the experience of prayer. Prayer should engage imagination both toward the one praying and toward God. The metaphors of the psalm pass into our own experience and expand our horizons. Walter Brueggemann has written of the Psalms:

The Psalms do not insist that we follow word for word and line by line, but they intend us to have great freedom to engage our imagination toward the Holy God.… We will take liberties as the Psalm passes by and moves out into the richness of our experience and then back into the awesome presence of God. That is the way of metaphor (Praying the Psalms [Winona, MN: Saint Mary’s Press, 1982], 35).

Without a good stock of metaphors and an active imagination, our prayers are crippled and reduced to flattened, formulaic expressions without much power.
Perhaps the dominant metaphor in the psalm is that of distance from God in v 3. A sense of far-awayness from the divine presence, an at-the-end-of the earth experience, seems to be endemic to the spiritual life from time to time (see, e.g., Pss 2:1; 10:1; 22:2, 12, 20; 35:22; 38:22 [21]; 71:12). Indeed, it is almost a continuous need: “The psalmist is here describing the human condition in existentialist terms: man constantly stands at the edge of the abyss, and only divine assistance can prevent his falling into it” (Dahood, II, 84). Werner R. Mayer discusses a provocative Babylonian prayer formula which says, “I call to you from distantness; hear me from nearness” (“ ‘Ich rufe dich von ferne, höre mich von nahe,’ ” 302–17). The formula seems to mean that prayer suspends the distantness between the supplicant and the deity. Breaking down a perceived distance and the creation of sense of nearness and presence is a major function of prayer. The Psalms are of great importance in the recognition of distantness, which results from various kinds of stress and distress, and in the closing of that gap, which threatens spiritual health and even life itself. The very recitation of psalms like 61 serves to diminish distance and enhance nearness and presence.

Tate, M.E., 1998. Psalms 51–100, Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
Hester von Wielligh

Jul 24, 2021 | #

Goeiedag!
Ek het die stuk oor ps 61 met waardering gelees. Wat is die Engels van die volgende aanhaling? “Ek bid tot U van ver, hoor my van naby.” (Tate, Word Biblical Commentary, Psalm 51-100)
Ek wil dit graag verder ondersoek.
Baie dankie en seën.
Loretta Pienaar

Jul 23, 2021 | #

Goeiemôre Ds van Wyk, ek sal dit baie waardeer as ek u boodskappe kan ontvang. Alhoewel ek boodskappe kry van ander Godvresende leraars, kan ek nooit genoeg kry nie in hierdie tye. Ek is geensins ondankbaar nie, maar te dikwels blyk dit dat mense nie gretig is om oor God te praat nie, of soms blyk dit dat hulle nie omgee nie. God seën u en u geliefdes.
Jan

Jul 20, 2021 | #

Geestelike leesstof dankie.
Chris van Wyk

Jul 16, 2021 | #

Die woord wegraping kom nie in die Bybel voor nie. Dit is ‘n afleiding wat gemaak word op grond van die beskrywing van Jesus se hemelvaart en ons ontmoeting met Hom in 1 Tessalonisense 4.
Chris van Wyk

Jul 16, 2021 | #

Hi, jy kan kyk wat ek geskryf het by week 80-84 van Prontuit die Waarheid (https://bybelskool.com/prontuit-die-waarheid-argief/).
Past C Tities

Jul 13, 2021 | #

Pastoor ek soek graag Meer inligting oor rampe veral geestelik

Dankie vir u wonderlik ervaring wat u met andere deel
Milana Van Rooyen

Jul 11, 2021 | #

Goeie dag

Waar in bybel staan die woord wegraping …
Skrif asb
Dankie
Millanie