Does the Bible refer to Peter's wife being martyred?
The Bible doesn't mention that Peter's wife was martyred. After doing a bit of looking, it appears that Clement of Alexandria wrote the following:
They say, accordingly, that the blessed Peter, on seeing his wife led to death, rejoiced on account of her call and conveyance home, and called very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, "Remember thou the Lord." Such was the marriage of the blessed and their perfect disposition towards those dearest to them.
This comes from Clement's The Stromata, or Miscellanies: Book VII. Tradition, then, rather than Scripture give us this story. If you'd like to read Clement's words, you can find them here. I wouldn't bother, to be honest...if you're curious, it's interesting. If you're not that curious, it's very tedious. =)
Why couldn't [God] have created mankind with free will that also chose to love him and were righteous from the get go?
An interesting question, to be sure. The answer is in the question itself: free will.
The alternative to having free will is to NOT be FREE. Were God to create people who would automatically choose to love Him, those people would not be - and never could be - free. It's like asking why God didn't make circles with corners...if it's got corners, it CAN'T be a circle. In the same way, making us an offer we can't refuse is exactly the same as not making an offer at all. We're either free to decide - and live with the consequences - or we're not free at all.
I understand her frustration. This is a sick and broken world, filled with hurting and dying people. Our ache for relief from this suffering goes unanswered, and it's probably the most difficult part of life. We want things to be different, so we blame the One who set it up...it's perfectly understandable.
At the same time, free will is the key to it all. If we're not free, then our decisions have no value at all. If we're free, we get the bad with the good. God will make all things right, at the perfect time, in the perfect way...or He's not God at all. I read recently that, in the end, "all sad things will become untrue". I like that. It offers comfort to we who suffer, acknowledges God's promises, and looks ahead to when our wounds will finally be healed.
One simple reason is that we tend to think that God loves us for what we do. If God loves us because we're nice, it becomes easy to look down on mean people. If God loves us because we're generous, we have no trouble being critical of stingy people. If God loves us because we're liberal, open-minded people, we tend to look down on bigoted, conservative people. If God loves us because we're traditional people of faith, it only makes sense to believe that God loves progressives and atheists less than He loves us.
The Bible teaches that God loves us NOT for what we do, but because of WHO WE ARE. We are His creation, the focus of His affection. Jesus died as a demonstration of God's love for us...not because we're good, but because we need to know His love. That's grace: God loves you even when you don't love Him. When people understand grace, they stop thinking of others as less worthy of God's love.
When we see others through the lens of good works, we tend to be critical and exclude others. When we see others through the lens of grace, we tend to be generous and compassionate and include others. When we measure the effectiveness of the American church at reaching out to the unsaved, it seems obvious to me that we seldom offer to others the same grace we've been given.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:27
What is the Bible really about?
Is the Bible basically about me and what I must do, or is it basically about Jesus and what He has done? When you read in Luke and Acts how Jesus, in those 40 days, got His disciples together 40 days before He ascended, after He was raised, what was He doing? Basically, He was saying "Everything in the Old Testament is about me." He says "The reason you didn't understand what I was about was you didn't realize that everything in the Prophets and the Psalms and the Law was pointing to me."
Do you believe the Bible is basically about you, or basically about Him? Is David and Goliath basically about you, and how you can be like David and Goliath, or basically about Him, the one who really took on the only giants that can really kill us? An so His victory is imputed to us. Who is it really about? That's the fundamental question. And when that happens, then you start to read the Bible anew, you know.
Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden...His garden, a much tougher garden, and whose obedience is imputed to us.
Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for our acquittal.
Jesus is the true and better Abraham, who answered the call of God to leave all of the comfortable and familiar and go into the void, not knowing whither He went.
Jesus is the true and better Isaac, who was not just offered up by His father on the mount, but was truly sacrificed for us all while God said to Abraham, "Now I know you love me, because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love, from me". Now we, at the foot of the cross, can say to God, "Now we know that you love me, because you did not withhold your Son, your only Son, whom you love, from me".
Jesus is the true and better Jacob, who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserve so we, like Jacob, only receive the wound of grace that wakes us up in discipline.
Jesus is the true and better Joseph, who was at the right hand of the King, and forgives those who betrayed and sold Him, and uses His power to save them.
Jesus is the true and better Moses, who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord, and mediates a New Covenant.
Jesus is the true and better rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God's justice, now gives us water in the desert.
Jesus is the true and better Job. He is the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves His friends.
Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes His peoples' victory though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.
Jesus is the true and better Esther, who didn't just risk losing an eartly palace but lost the ultimate heavenly one, who didn't just risk His life but gave His life, who didn't just say "If I perish, I perish" but says "When I perish, I'll perish for them, to save my people".
Jesus is the true and better Jonah, who was cast out into the storm so we could be brought in.
He's the real Passover Lamb. He's the true Temple, the true Prophet, the true Priest, the true King, the true Sacrifice, the true Lamb, the true Light, the true Bread.
The Bible is not about you. It is primarily about Jesus.
In response to a picture of Jesus I once posted, a GodWords reader says:
Brother, you said to contact you if we had any concerns. I really don't like the image at all based on the Second Commandment. I think the heart of the image is right, but I think it is important we worship God as He has told us to.
I appreciate his concern, and I appreciate hearing from him. When we look at the second commandment, here's what we find...
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6 and Deuteronomy 5:8-10)
The Hebrew here is ASAH PECEL. It means an idol, or an image.
Do not make any idols. (Exodus 34:17)
The Hebrew here is ASAH MACCEKAH ELOHIYM. It means a pouring, libation, molten metal, cast image, drink offering.
This command is repeated or referred to in Leviticus 26:1, Deuteronomy 4:16 & 4:23, Deuteronomy 27:15, Judges 17:3-4 & 18:14 & 18:17-18 & 18:30-31, 2 Kings 21:7, 2 Chronicles 33:7, Psalm 97:7, Isaiah 40:19-20 & 42:17 & 44:9-10 & 44:15-17 & 45:20 & 48:5, Jeremiah 10:14 & 51:17, Nahum 1:14, and Habakkuk 2:18.
In every case - without exception - the context indicates that the graven (molten) image is worshipped instead of God. The second commandment is not a prohibition against images or art, as some have suggested. It's a prohibition of creating anything for the purpose of idol worship. Now, I certainly didn't include that picture so that people could worship it. On the contrary: I put it in there so people would join me in worshipping the one true God.
In case anyone still wonders about this, read the command carefully: it says ANY likeness of ANYTHING in Heaven above or in the earth beneath. If God intended for the command to be carried out literally, that is to say "don't make any images of anything", then He would not have had the Israelites create a temple:
In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. (Hebrews 9:22-24)
If God didn't want anything copied, He wouldn't have instructed them to make copies of things in Heaven. Instead, we can see - from the context of all of Scripture - that the second commandment prohibits idol worship...not the making of images, but of images to replace God as the only one worthy of worship.
