AI vs Walking on Water

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Welcome everyone. It is Thursday, February thirteenth, twenty twenty five. It is currently five eighteen pm Central Time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. I don't know how you're doing this evening or this afternoon, depending on where you may be. I hope it's going well well for you. I know tomorrow around this time, probably not a lot of people would be tuning in, right. I mean, it's to be Valentine's Day. Love will be in the air. People will be going out to eat, going out on a date, going somewhere, maybe going off for a romantic weekend. So you really I have, like, you know, either broadcast today. I wonder how the numbers will actually be tomorrow. I wonder how many live broadcast will even be happening. I wonder how many people will even be listening. Will it have an impact? If you look at the amount of money Americans spend on Valentine's Day, it is like it's send the billions. So I know a lot of money will be spent. So will that impact then listening on a Friday evening. I mean, I typically don't broadcast on a Friday evening anyway, but I just I'd be curious if it would impact numbers. Who knows, But this evening or this afternoon again, I keep saying Thursday evening. It's you know, five nineteen pm Central time here,

1:34 so we're not quite to the evening time with this late afternoon time. If you look on the sermons two point oh app right now. If you look at the sermon's two point oh app right now, what you see there are four live webcasts. You'll notice that I think most of them are in Spanish this evening at least two of them are in Spanish. And well then you have the Theology Central podcast, so that we're one of the four that are currently broadcasting. So yeah, there's not a lot of options currently. Thursday evening is typically where you don't have a lot of broadcast. So if you're a broadcaster and you're looking to really maybe be the only one kind of broadcasting at a given time, Thursday afternoon into Thursday evening really is a pretty good time. Wednesdays, obviously, there's hundreds and hundreds, Sunday morning hundreds and hundreds, Sunday evening hundreds and hundreds. So Thursday is a good time.

2:36 I didn't necessarily pick this evening, you know, to do something because it's Thursday, but because I do know some will see this as a long holiday weekend. You always know, numbers can fluctuate, So hopefully this will be beneficial and we could get some things done. Also, if you're looking around on the sermon's two point, oh, app this evening, if we just go here to discover and look newest sermons, some of the newest sermons that have been added over the last couple of hours. Let's see here purging the military of wokeness. Okay, that could be interesting. I probably would. Yeah, Okay, So that's going on to see what else do we have here? Performance of the Willingness. That's an interesting title.

3:25 Performance of the Willingness. Worship God as Trinity, that could be interesting. The historic Panorama of the Bible. That sounds good. Beware of Satan's Devices. That's also the name of a famous book by a Puritan. So I wonder if it's borrowing from the book or if it's borrowing from the passage was it tewod Corinthians? I believe, So that could be interesting. Dominion Part two. Hmm, that could be interesting. Oh, this could be fun. How justification and sanctification differ? Oh that, man, that just sounds like a right. There could be I don't even want to review that. That could lead to about eighteen hours of content. Right, that could be it.

4:17 That could be the end of twenty twenty five. That would be it, right because who knows what direction that would go? That could go so many different directions. But there's a lot to choose from, a lot to do. So why did I turn on the microphone this evening when you've got all this other stuff to choose from. You don't have as many live webcasts right now, but you've got a lot of things to do. Well, I've decided to turn the microphone on because I just can't let it go, Ladies and gentlemen, I just can't let it go. I know I should move on, but I can't. We have been talking a little bit about the knotic heresy kenosis kinoticism. We've been talking about that heresy, and as we've I've heard, well what we we reviewed a devotional and we reviewed a sermon at least where the knotic idea again, and both cases, I guess was so frustrating is they never came out and just went full blown conotic heresy. It was kind of a functional canotic way of thinking, but they didn't even really expound on it or expand on it. They just threw in this little comment and moved on. But the entire premise, at least on the last sermon we reviewed, was really on this idea that basically Jesus had to rely on God and he relied on God the same way Peter did.

5:38 And because Peter relied on God the way Jesus did, well, then Peter was able to do these things. And basically, if we live our Christian life relying on God this way, then basically we can have a we can be victorious, and our Christian life is going to be amazing. And we talked about all the problems, but none of them really served as a great example, because they know, they just threw out the concept but didn't really go into it. And if they would have went into it, we would have had a little bit more to chew on. So I was kind of frustrated with that, But then what really left me bothered was in the last sermon we reviewed at dealt with Jesus walking on the water and Peter walking on the water Matthew, chapter fourteen, verses twenty two to thirty six. Matthew, Chapter fourteen, verses twenty two to thirty six. And I guess what I can't let go is in the sermon. Even though they were making all these assumptions that basically when we read the story of Jesus and Peter walking on the water, that it basically I mean, it was just it was never explained, it was never justified, it was never proven. It was just like, this basically is a picture of the way you're to live the Christian life. So just immediately was like, this becomes a prescriptive passage, and not only is it prescriptive, we're going to turn it into a metaphor, we're going to turn it into a picture. So so all of a sudden, we're gonna spiritualize it, we're gonna turn it into a metaphor, and we're gonna make it prescriptive. But

7:08 there was never any justification offered for why the text was being handled that way. And fact, if you go back and listen to that sermon. Now, I could be wrong. I know they referenced the text, but there really wasn't any like, let's work through this, let's consider this historically philologically, there really was no actual work on the text, and that I just can't let it go. So I've been sitting here working off and on throughout the evening or afternoon, I should say, I keep saying evening for some reason. I keep saying evening for some reason. I apologize. I had to cough there for a second, but I couldn't let it go. So I sat down and while me and artificial intelligence just started having a conversation, and I started explaining to artificial intelligence that, hey, I'm frustrated by this.

8:07 I'm just frustrated by this entire passage in the way it's handled, you know, And I basically want to AYI to tell me if I'm right, if I'm wrong, do I understand this. So what we're going to do, just for a little bit of time, and I was about to say this evening today right now, is we're going to just kind of have AI kind of walk us through some of the issues with this passage. In Matthew chapter fourteen, verses twenty two to through thirty six about Jesus walking on the water and Peter. So first, let's just read the text. All right, here we go Matthew, Chapter fourteen, verse twenty two, and straightway, Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him onto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

9:01 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying it is a spirit, and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, be of good cheer it is I. Be not afraid. I think there's a lot of importance there that he says it is I. We could get into a lot of the reasons why that's a significant phrase verse twenty eight.

9:47 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water. Now, if you go back to the last sermon we reviewed, he did make a lot of interesting points about the way this is structured in the Greek, what that means, if it be thou And he made some very interesting points there that maybe we could expound on some other time. But I thought he did a very good job there. And Peter answered and said, Lord, if thou be, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand caught him and said, unto him, O, thou of little faith?

10:36 Wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, they win ceased, and they and they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying, of a truth, Thou art the son of God. Right there, you have it all right, And now we can read a little bit further, but you get the basic story. You know, the basic story. Now, I would argue that the majority of Christian teaching, the majority of Christian preaching, the majority of Christians, that they interpret Matthew fourteen twenty two through twenty six the section as being prescriptive rather than descriptive. I would argue that many sermons, devotionals, and commentaries basically present this story as some type of model, some type of formula for Christian living. Hey, we are to do this, We're not to do this, we to do this, we are not to do this, and then we can live the Christian life. We can be successful.

11:46 And so it takes this story, makes it prescriptive, and it turns it into some kind of formula, some kind of method, some kind of idea, and teaching us how to live the Christian life. Now, I would ask the question immediately, is the text there for that, is the text even attempting to do that? Is the text trying to show tell us something about us and what we should do? Or is the text trying to demonstrate something about Christ? Have we taken a text that's supposed to be exalting Christ and made it about us? I will say, welcome to Christianity. Because that's all we ever seem to do. Typically, these sermons, these devotionals, these you know, whatever small group teaching, wherever you find it. They typically focus on themes like step out in faith, trust Jesus amidst life storms. So now the storm has become like see how it all just becomes this, It just becomes Plato and you can just make it whatever you want, or overcome your fear by keeping your eye on Jesus. Those are some things you'll hear in church, right, It'll be like step out in faith, trust in Jesus in the middle of life storms, overcome your fear by keeping your eye on Jesus. All of that preaches really well. People typically eat this stuff up.

13:15 They get they take some notes down in their journal or their notebook. They love it. They'll tell the pastor how encouraging it was, how helpful it was, how great it was, I guess, and then they go home and I don't know if they even know what to do or how to even do it. I don't even know. I don't know if you really cornered them in the parking lot and said, Okay, I know you said it was a great sermon. I know you said it was amazing. So what do I do now? What? And the last sermon we reviewed, that's what I kept saying. You told me, I have to get out of the boat. How do I get out of the boat? What does that even mean? I have to get out of the boat. And as soon as I get out of the boat, then Jesus will enable me with this strength and this power so that I can walk on water. Metaphorically speaking, what does that even mean? I don't even know what that means.

13:59 Keep your eye on Jesus, don't look at the storm. Okay, what does that mean? Now we can try to describe it in some vague way where people will be like, okay, okay, all right, So what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? And it basically turns into you know, read your Bible, go to church, say your prayer. I mean, just basically the same thing over and over and over. It just all drives me crazy. So in Matthew fourteen twenty through twenty six, we have Jesus and Peter walking on water. I think we can all agree with that. The passage recounts Jesus walking on water and Peter's attempt to do the same after Jesus calls him. When Peter becomes afraid and begins to seek, Jesus rescues him and rebukes him for his doubt. I think that's a basic, easy summary of the text. We know that. Now, how do the majority of Christians? How does much of Christianity?

14:53 How does the majority of Christianity interprets this passage? All right? So I asked Ai, what do they do? And AI said, well, the majority of Christianity, most of Christianity, interprets this in a prescriptive way, where the text is supposedly prescribing something you and I are to do. So AI breaks it down this way. Number one, step out in faith. Many sermons use Peter's actions as an example that Christians must step out of the boat and faith to experience God's power. If you want God's power, get out of the boat. You got to get out of your comfort zone. You got to get out of your safety, You got to get out of your security, and you go step out of the boat and boom boom, boom boom, you get God's power and now you can do it. You can do it. You can live the victorious life. You can do this. You can do this. Now, what exactly can I do? I don't know. Can can I walk on physical water? Well? No, you can't really do that, can I can I? Now, it depends. If you're in I guess, certain elements of charismatic world. You can do anything. You can raise the dead, heal the sick, you can do some of both. Stop tornadoes, stop hurricane. All the crazy claims that they make, which you know constantly are proving to be fraudulent, never come to pass. Okay, all the issues that we can have with that. But it almost always means if I'll just get out, if I'll just step out and faith whatever that means, it's usually somewhat vague. Well, then all of a sudden, I get power, I get I'm enabled im. That's howmost every sermon preaches it. It's

16:25 sometimes it's never specific enough, but it's just vague. Hey, you just get out of the boat and boom, you say, Okay, so I don't need to stay in the boat. I don't need to stay in a place of security. I don't need all of that because I just get out of the boat. God's going to provide everything, all right, Well, then, look, what are the right what are the what are the implications of that. Typically, in this prescriptive way of interpreting, it will be step out on faith, or they'll focus on keep your eyes on Jesus. The common application is that if you keep your focus on Jesus, we can overcome any obstacle. But when we take our eyes off Him, we begin to sink. Keep your eyes on Jesus, keep your don't look to this, how do you? And so it'll be like, you know, four ways to keep your eyes on Jesus, Read your Bible, pray you know, prayse go to church. It almost always turns in again into here are the four steps, here are the three steps, here are the five steps. And if you just keep your eyes on Jesus, you won't sink. You keep your eyes in Jesus, you'll never fail. So if I'll just get out of the boat and I'll keep my eyes on Jesus, then then I'm I don't know, I don't it just nobody can really tell me how it specifically works.

17:52 They will go on with trust God and the storms of life. This view treats the storms as symbolic of life's trials and Peter's experience as a pattern of how believers should trust God during difficulties. Now, please know what always happens here is all of these things that are literal and historical are all now rewritten to be metaphorical allegorical, and then you can just make it. Well, this represents this, This represents this, this represents this. This. You don't have anything in the text telling you you're even allowed to do this, but hey, we can just do whatever we want with the text. Basically, it'll go like this, if you have enough faith, you can do the impossible. And charismatic and word of faith circles. This passage is cited as proof that believers can perform miracles or achieve victory if their faith is just strong enough. So then almost inevitably, why are you sinking? Okay? Why why are you not having victory? Well, either one, you're too afraid to get out of the boat, so you just got to have faith, just step out there and do it. Okay, So either it'll be that or you got out of the boat, but you didn't care keep your eyes on Jesus. Your faith is it strong enough? So you're sinking, you're felling, You're messing up because you didn't keep your eyes on Jesus.

19:08 It's all your fault, So AI said it this way. Most Christian teaching treats this passage as a blue plant, blueprint for how Christians should live by faith, face challenges, and depend on God. That's how most Christians approach it. I mean, if you don't believe me, I mean you got the sermon's two point oh app. We were talking about it right there in the beginning of the illustration. And the reason I was talking about or the opening introduction is because well, yeah, go Now I can challenge you to go do that. Go use the sermons two point oh app. Look up sermons on Matthew for the Temptation of Jesus, which we've talked about earlier this week, or or and look up sermons on Matthew fourteen fourteen, twenty two through thirty six, and just tell me. You can tell you, well, you don't have to tell me.

20:08 Listen to how they handle the text. Almost in both cases, the text are handled in a prescriptive manner, not a descriptive one. Now, why is the prescriptive view so common? Why do you think the prescriptive view of Jesus walking on water and Peter walking on water. Why do you think it's so common? AI gave me its reasons. It said, Number one, it makes for compelling preaching. It's far easier to craft some top of a motivational sermon from a prescriptive view. Step out in faith like Peter see that, Come on, trust in Jesus. Trust in Jesus the storms of life. Don't seek keep your eyes on Jesus. Come on, and it preaches. It can be exciting, it can be in, it can be dramatic. So that's why we do it.

21:03 And I've stated it so many times. Sermons are the enemy to biblical interpretation. When you have to worry about preaching a sermon that's compelling or that's interesting, you have a tendency to not go wait a minute, Wait a minute, what should I do with this text? Based on the text, it becomes what should I do with this text in order to have a sermon. I don't care if it's compelling, it's the issue is you're mishandling the text. Another reason this happens, and another reason it's so common, is because there's a desire for direct application. Many Christians and preachers feel the need to draw direct personal application from every single passage, even when the text itself doesn't even warrant it.

21:58 So you have this, You have this desire almost for compelling preaching, this desire for direct application. And there's a third reason. It's because of what we call devotional culture. Many Christian devotionals thrive on finding life lessons and every narrative, even if it means stretching the text. Christians love devotional materials. Think of how much money is spent every year on devotional materials. To your devotionals, to your devotionals, spend quiet time with the Lord, and so people buy devotionals. Instead of learning how to take a text and do your own devotional, they rely on and know the devotional who then thinks they have to give you a life lesson for every narrative, even if there's nothing in that text that's a life lesson for you in a specific or direct way. This prescriptive approach is a cancer. So AI I summed it up this way. While the majority of Christianity interprets Matthew fourteen twenty through twenty six as prescriptive, a more faithful reading sees it as descriptive. Now please know, AI, says the more faithful way is seeing it descriptive. It is about Jesus divine authority. It's not a command or a pattern for believers to emulate. The passage calls us to recognize and worship Jesus for who he is, rather

23:30 than to assume that if we have enough faith we can do what Peter did. So then Ai asked me, would you like to dive deeper into the text, perhaps by examining the Greek historical context or exploring how the early Church fathers interpreted this passage. So Ai was like, okay, let's dig in right. Ai was like, most people handle this in a prescriptive way. It should be handled in a descriptive way. Let's dig in. But I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, slow down, Ai, slow down, don't get ahead of me, don't get ahead of me. So I just asked Ai a question. I was basically like, AI, come on, throughout church history, even in modern days, can't we all agree that no one in their right mind but would believe that, Oh, if we just trust in Jesus, if we just have the faith of Peter, that we could walk on water even for a minute. Ai said, outside of some extreme and fringe groups. Virtually virtually no one in mainstream Christianity teaches that believers today can literally walk on water if they have enough faith. And this is what always drives me crazy because because everyone knows, wait a minute, no can we if we have the faith like Peter, we can, we can walk on water. But then immediately they have to say, well no, no, no, not literal water, not literal water. No no no, no, no no no, we can walk on water, and that becomes that has to

25:02 become metaphorical. Well see that right there just tells me, you know, deep down that even if I have the exact level of faith as Peter, even if I'm able to go, you know, next time I'm in the ocean somewhere, I'm just gonna jump off the boat. I'm not walking on the water, not for five seconds, not for ten seconds, not for a minute. It's not happening no matter. Everyone knows that. So immediately that should be like huh so why so that that forces everyone then to go to the text and then rewrite it. So AI goes on to say, so what's the issue? This is what AI says.

25:46 It asked me the question, So what's the issue? Right, Because no one believes no other than some fringe groups, no one believes that that we can do that. So AI says, what's the issue. Then I'm like, well, you answer me right, don't ask me the question. You answered the question. So A I said this. While no one expects literal water walking, many still take this passive prescriptively and apply it to the Christian life metaphorically suggesting that if we have the right amount of faith, we can overcome any obstacle, performed spiritual feats, or live in complete victory. Well, the whole thing is, that's just maddening. You're gonna take a text about someone literally walking on water. You know we can't do that, So then you come along and just make it a metaphor, just to come along and say, well that was historical, but you know, forget what Peter actually walked on water? I mean, isn't that great? But actually it's metaphorically a picture of us walking in victory and overcoming the storms of life and just saying all of this nonsensical stuff that makes everyone feel good sitting in the pew, But it's nonsense. That's not what the text is about. AI says. The danger is not in people belie they can walk on water. But in the underlying theology that accompanies this interpretation, the idea that faith guarantees success, miracles are overcoming every challenge, the implication that if someone fails, like Peter sinking, it's due to a lack of faith, which can lead to guilt, legalism, and disillusionment.

27:18 Don't you think, don't you think if I could just have the faith to get out of the boat, then I could walk on top of the storm. I can overcome it. But over and over and over, I look away from Jesus, and I see if I could just look to Jesus better, if I could just do more, if I could just read my Bible more, if I could go to just go to church more, if I could just do better. Come on, slap myself, what is wrong? Come on, come on, look at Jesus. It turns into this never ending performance based oh legalistic craziness. Now, when it's originally preached, people find some hope in it, But find them how's it working? How's it going? So AI goes on to say, no mainstream Christian group teaches that believers today can literally walk on water like Peter, even if they believe in strong faith or dependence on God. However, the philological framework that often emerges from this passage emphasizes faith as a guarantee of miraculous outcomes. It is still widespread and problematic. So then AI asked me another question, would you like to explore how this passage has been interpreted historically or how different philological traditions have handled it?

28:36 And I'm like, slow down, I know where I'm going. AI, just let me fall, Just let me lead here. AI. I know you want to take over. Let me lead here, right, Because I was trying to walk it through in a logical progression. So when it comes to Matthew fourteen twenty two to thirty six, everyone knows. Everyone knows instinctively, Okay, I can have the faith of Peter, right, I can rely on the Holy Spirit and trust in God, and I can do what Jesus did. I can walk on water. Well, I mean I can't literally walk on water. Immediately, everyone already then places a limit. Well, I can't do that. Now, I know there's gonna be some charismatic Well yes you can. Okay, Well then come on, well, then go walk, you know, go walk as across the Gulf of America. Okay, right, I'm making a joke. Okay, go go walk across you know wherever the point is. You're not going to be able to do it. You can't do it, and everybody knows you can't do it. It's not the point. But of course you know that. So then what you in it?

29:48 Don't you find it kind of a coincidence? Then you just magically come in and it's a metaphor, it's a picture, metaphorically olligorically. So then I basically asked Ai, you know, hey, so how should we then move forward here and ask it some questions. Ai goes on to say, the majority of Christian teaching on Matthew fourteen twenty through twenty six or twenty two through thirty six acknowledges that we cannot literally walk on water. But this is what AI says, But conveniently they substitute walking on water with something more abstract, like victory in the Christian life, overcoming sin, stepping out in faith during difficult times, or achieving spiritual success. I loved how AI was like, conveniently, they're like, hey, well we can't do that, But conveniently the text is really a picture. It's a metaphor, and that convenient that it is, because if we if we don't conveniently transform this into some kind of metaphorical things, saying, well, then anyone could walk up and go, well, are you telling me if you trust in Jesus and have faith in Jesus like Peter did, then I can walk on water. Well we can test that, can't we. Okay, well everyone knows, okay, well that's not gonna work. So we just conveniently go, well, we know it's a historical, actual fact, but but but

31:19 but but it was really there showing me how I can walk on the storms of life. Yeah, of course you you've conveniently transformed it. So AI said, here's how the majority handles the passage. They recognize here, here's kind of the steps. They recognize the literal impossibility. Everyone agrees that believers today can't literally walk on water, even with strong faith. So number two, they reinterpret the miracle metaphorically. The act of Peter walking on the water is then transformed into a symbol for something else. Walking on water becomes metaphor for overcoming fear, achieving spiritual victory, stepping out in faith in life's challenges, and living above sin and struggle.

32:12 So number one, they recognize the literal impossibility. They reinterpret the miracle metaphorically. They then make the act of walking on water symbolic of it becomes a metaphor for overcoming fear, achieving spiritual victory, stepping out in faith, or living above sin and struggles. Number three, they shift the focus to faith based success. The common sermon goes something like this, if you have faith like Peter, you can walk on water in your own life, whatever, whether that means overcoming your addictions, facing your trials with boldness, or living victoriously over sin. In other words, the miraculous act is spiritualized and applied to everyday Christian living. So all you got to do, so it all becomes this metaphor. Now, who gave any preacher the right to do that? Who gave the preacher the right to meda just turned it into a metaphor? Who gave the right for the preacher to all of a sudden make it allegorical. Who gave the preacher the hermeneutical right, the hermeneutical authority to just do this and then just and then throw this out there almost as if if you it's almost like a mathematical formula.

33:29 If you'll get out of the boat and believe dun dun da dah, you can do it. Oh oh oh, but be careful. Don't do what Peter did because you'll sink. And if you sink, it's your fault because you're not looking at Jesus, who gave them the right to just come along and just do this to the text, to spiritualize it, alligorize it, make it a metaphor, so Ai says, here's what pre Christians do. They recognize the literal impossibility. They reinterpret the miracle metaphorically. They shift, they shift the focus to some kind of faith based success. They ignore and then number four, they ignore the original context the passage.

34:17 Original context is about Jesus divine power and the disciples recognition of him as the son of God. The focus shifts from Christ's identity to our personal faith journey, which distorts the meaning of the text. So how do most churches handle it. They're going to recognize the literal impossibility, They're going to reinterpret it as metaphorical. They're going to make it some They're going to shift the focus to some kind of faith based success. Right then, they're going to ignore the original context. Now, AI says, why is this problematic? Well, it turns a unique history event and to a universal prescription for all believers. It sets up an unrealistic expectation, implying that if you have enough faith, you'll have victory in every aspect of life, whether that means overcoming san facing trials or achieving success number three.

35:18 It leads to guilt confusion when believers don't experience this so called victory, causing them to question their faith or they're standing with God. So why is all of this preaching problematic? It turns a unique historical event into a universal prescription for all believers. That's not what the text is trying to do. It sets up an unrealistic expectation, and then it will ultimately lead to guilt, confusion, disillusionment, discouragement, depression.

35:58 So what's really happening? Well, most of Christianity acknowledges the impossibility of literally walking on water, but then swaps out the actual miracle for symbolic spiritual achievements. This approach makes the passage more palatable and applicable, but it also moves away from the text original purpose, which was to demonstrate Christ's divine authority, rather than provide a blueprint for the Christian life. So I was like, okay, all right, this whole prescriptive way is nonsensical. It's ridiculous. We play this little game where, well, we can't do it literally, so we'll do it metaphorically. And then metaphorically it's just well, you can have success, but we haven't out. We have an asp bur sleeve. If you don't have success, sorry, you don't get your money back. It's all your fault. Okay, Already the whole thing becomes problematic. So then I thought, well, okay, let's play along. Let's pretend that we could and should interpret the text metaphorically as some kind of spiritual picture.

37:22 Maybe maybe we look at the text and like, this whole thing seems kind of nonsensical, you know, why would Why is Jesus walking on the water. Why why is Peter asking about going out on the water? Why does Peter go out on the water. Maybe maybe we just determined the text is so just so unusual, so different, that we think maybe there are clues in the text that kind of scream at us, hey, guys, this is a picture. This is supposed to be picturing something, not saying it didn't happen historically. But there's enough in the text that seemingly take us in a metaphorical way. But if we were to go in a metaphorical way, why don't we have to go the direction everybody else tells us to go. So I started trying to formulate maybe there's a different approach. So AI told me this. AI says, once the narrative is rewritten to be prescriptive and you center it on us, here's the way the typical interpretation goes.

38:35 So once, so once you kind of read all right, So I'm gonna make sure you understand it's already being written. I'm gonna propose here a second, a way to rewrite it in a metaphorical way. But before we get to my way of rewriting it in a metaphorical way, I want to make it very clear. Already the majority of Christians already rewrite the narrative. They rewrite the narrative, they make it prescriptive, and it becomes about us. All right, So already there's already rewriting happening. So typically the way most Christians rewrite the narrative goes something like this, Peter's walk. Peter's walk on water becomes a metaphor for the Christian life, stepping out in faith, trusting God, and achieving spiritual victory.

39:19 The wind and the waves represent the challenges, temptations, and difficulties we face in life. And when we take our eyes off Jesus and focus on our problems the wind and the waves, we begin to seek meaning, we start to struggle, fail or fall into sin. The message then becomes, if you're failing in your Christian life, it's because you're taking your eyes off Jesus. If you're sinking, it's because of your lack of faith. This interpretation and well a I said, there's a number of problems that makes the Christian life entirely dependent on our ability to maintain unwavering faith. It leads to guilt, self condemnation. It oversimplifies the complexity of Christian struggles, and it ignores the main point of the text, which is to reveal who Jesus is. It's not about giving us a step by step guide for navigating life's challenges. Ai says this interpretation has become the default message. This is what you get in almost every church if you keep your eyes on Jesus, you'll walk in the If you keep your eyes on Jesus, you'll walk on the waters of life's trials. But the moment you focus on your problems instead of Jesus, you'll start to sink. So keep your eyes on Jesus and you'll never fail. And so AI goes on to say, once this passage has turned into a lesson about Us, the explanation for felling becomes you're sinking because you're not looking

40:52 at Jesus. This interpretation is widespread. It places the burden on believers faith rather than keeping the focus on Jesus. And then it says, would you like to break down this passage exegetically and offer a more faithful interpretation? But I said, well, wait, wait, wait, wait, let's not go there yet, all right, So I asked it some more questions, and AI said, the final step in this typical handling of this passage often becomes a form of moralistic prescription, where the focus shifts entirely to our lack of faith and the need to strength it through spiritual disciplines. So AI was like, Okay, you're right. This whole thing goes horribly wrong. It's all going wrong. It's the whole thing is problem problematic. The minute you go with this prescriptive approach, you ultimately put the blame on people for their feelings because well, they didn't look to Jesus. Ai said, Okay, here's kind of the common formula that you hear in most churches. All right, Peter walked on water because he had faith. Peter sake because as faith wavered when he focused on the wind and the waves. We live our Christian lives. We live. I'm sorry we fail in our Christian lives because our faith is weak, just like Peter.

42:04 So what is the solution? You need stronger faith? How do you get stronger faith? Go to church, join a small group, read your Bible, memorize scripture, and pray. Well, what is the problem. Well, it shifts the focus from Christ to us. The miracle originally reveals Jesus divine power, but now it becomes all about us. It creates a workspace framework for spiritual growth. Faith becomes something we have to manufacture through effort rather than something that grows from God's grace and spirits. The spirit work in us. It fosters guilt and self reliance, and it oversimplifies complex struggles.

42:46 The underlying message becomes if you're felling, it's because you haven't tried hard enough, and if you just did more, you would have the faith to walk on water too. Right. So AI, after we talked and said it says you have outlined the exact pattern most Christian teaching follows. Rewrite the narrative to be about us, blame our lack of faith when we fail, prescribe a list of spiritual activities to fix it. Right, So I was like, Okay, we now agree that this is the common approach. We now agree all of the problems of this prescriptive approach. We agree that this is what everyone does. Everyone follows the same formula. The formula has broken. It's problematic, it destroys the context of the passage. It is just it's wrong preaching.

43:39 And I will argue that if you go in the sermon's two point oh app tonight and start looking at sermon after sermon on Matthew fourteen twenty two through thirty six, you're going to find that ninety eight percent of them will take this flawed approach. I could be wrong, but that's what I feel would be the case. I can't dogmatically assert that. But remember what happened when I said, how most of the sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five, what they would do to the text, and what have we seen over and over? I have been right. I think I'm going to be right on this as well. But I decided, Okay, if you can't beat them, why don't we join them? Come on, right? I mean, hey, if we can just rewrite the narrative and we can make it a metaphor, if we can make it a picture, well, then who gets to determine who? Which are what are the elements of the metaphor? Who gets to determine what are the elements of the picture? I mean, once you say that you can just make it a metaphor and allegory and you can make it a spiritual picture, who gets to paint the picture? Who gets to decide what represents what? So I said, well, okay, then I'm going to rewrite, make it a picture, make it a metaphor, make it an allegory. But I'm going to fill in and write it my way. Tell me how this goes?

45:01 All right? So I asked, Ai, Hey, what about my approach? What about my approach, and Ai was like, even if someone were to interpret the historical event as a spiritual picture, the more faithful and gospel centered reading would look like this. So I gave Ai my interpretation, and Ai they said, yeah, if we were to, if we're gonna make it a picture, it would look like this. It took my interpretive, my interpretation, and then it broke it down. So this is what how AI classified it. It called my approach a gospel centered picture. All right, So here is how it broke it down. Number one, Jesus commands Peter to come. This is law. Jesus gives a direct command, and much like the Law of God calls us to obedience, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect justice. Peter was called to do something beyond human ability. The law demands perfect obedience, which we and our sinful nature cannot achieve. Peter was like, let me come to you, all right, Come, knowing that Peter can't do it, know it. The law says obey, The law says do this, The law says do that, The law says don't do this. We can't do it.

46:29 So the first picture here, that's the law saying, come, come on, Peter, come to me, do it now. Justice. Peter was called to do something beyond human ability. The law demands perfect obedience, which our sinful nature cannot achieve. So number one, Jesus commands Peter to come. That is law. Number two. Peter attempts to obey, but fails. This is human weakness and sinfulness. Peter steps out, but quickly sinks due to fear and doubt. This reflects our own inability to fulfill God commands perfectly because of our sinfulness. All have sin and fallen short of the glory of God. Our failure to keep the law is not due to a lack of effort alone, but due to our inherent sin nature. Justice Peter's failure wasn't a merely elapse in focus, but a reflection of human frailty. Peter takes off trying, just like we may take We see the law and we're like, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna try, I'm going to try to obey the law.

47:27 I'm going to try to keep this and I'm going to try to keep this and I'm going to do this and I'm not going to watch this, and I'm not going to look here, and I'm not going to go here, and I'm not going to date them, and I'm not going to do this, and I'm not going to do I'm not going to do any of this. And next thing, you know, you seek not because you lost focus because of your own inherent morality, your own inherent immorality, your own inherent sinfulness, your own inherent weakness. So one, you have Jesus, the command of Jesus. That's law number two. You have Peter attempt but fails because of weakness and sinfulness. And number three, Jesus rescues Peter by grace. This is the gospel. Peter's salvation from drowning is not because he tried harder or suddenly regained perfect faith, is because Jesus reached out and saved him by grace.

48:19 This is a beautiful picture of the gospel. Christ save sinners not based on their performance, but by grace and mercy Ephesians two eight through nine. For by grace you have been saved through faith. That is not your own doing, It is the gift of God. So number one, Jesus commands Peter to come. Law number two Peter attempts, but fails, human weakness and sinfulness. Number three. Jesus saves not based on anything Peter can do, could do, should do, but because Peter is drowning, he's sinking. Number four. This entire focus should then lead us directly to verse thirty three, which is, than they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying of a truth, thou art the son of God. The climatic moment of this story is not Peter's attempt. It's not Peter's success. It's not Peter's failure.

49:33 It is the disciple's response and saying, truly, you are the Son of God. The entire narrative ultimately points to Jesus identity and power, not Peter's faith. The story doesn't end with a lesson on how Peter could have done better, but with worship of Christ for who he is and what he has done. Jesus, he walks on water because we can't walk on water. He walks on water perfectly because which is you could say, symbolic of keeping the law, because we cannot keep the law. Now why would my picture be important? Well, it keeps the focus on Christ, not on us. It highlights the gospel, not moralistic self effort.

50:26 It acknowledges human weakness and the need for grace, and leads us to literally worship Jesus, not to fixate on improving our faith through going to church, reading a Bible, memorizing scripture, join a small group, run around in circles for seventeen hours, hit your head against a brick wall, or stab yourself in the eye with a fork. If the story is to be seen as a spiritual picture, then the real message is the law commands sinners. We attempt and we fail. Jesus and his grace rescues us despite our failure. And the proper response is not to focus on yourself, but it is to worship Christ for his grace and power Verse thirty three. Not Peter should be the ultimate destination of this passage. So then Ai said, would you like to explore how to teach or preach this passage from a gospel centered perspective? And I would be like, well, no, I don't need to do that, because I just gave you my interpretation. Okay, all right, now that's the way it should be approached. If you want to make it a picture. If you feel that the text is like this is just so odd. It's so weird. I think if we wanted to make it

52:00 a picture. But I still don't even think that's the correct approach. But that just shows you if you look at it from a law gospel perspective, that's a better way to handle it. But I still think that's wrong because that's still somewhat well, that's at least not making it as prescriptive. That's still keeping it somewhat in the descriptive side. But I think the approach to this is fully a descriptive passage. So I asked Ai. I said, hey, give me a more accurate interpretation, all right, what would be a more accurate interpretation of Matthew fourteen twenty two through thirty six? And AI typed this out. Interpret it descriptive, not prescriptive. And AI goes on to say, there's a strong argument can be made that this passage is descriptive.

52:57 It's not prescriptive. Why number one unique event. It's not a universal command. Jesus did not command all the disciples to walk on water only Peter. There's no indication that the event was intended to establish a pattern for all believers. Nowhere else in scripture or believers told that they should expect to walk on water or perform similar feats if they just have enough faith. The primary focus is on jesus divine authority. The passage highlights Jesus' power over nature, reinforcing his identity as the son of God. The disciples response in verse thirty three is to worship him, saying, truly, you are the Son of God. The miracle is more about revealing who Jesus is than about prescribing what believers should do. Number three, Peter's attempt is not presented as an ideal to follow. Peter walks on water is often seen as an act of faith, but it quickly becomes an example of human frailty. Jesus rebukes Peter's doubt, not necessarily commending his initial step. If this were a prescriptive passage, it would imply that the believer should expect similar miraculous feats, which contradicts the broader New Testament teaching on faith in the Christian life. The nature of biblical narratives. Many biblical narratives are descriptive, meaning they recount what happened without necessarily instructing believers to replicate the events. This passage fits into the category of highlighting jesus power and the disciples growing recognition of his divinity. It is not laying out a pattern of faith filled water walking for all believers. So

54:33 the whole way that this is typically handled is just completely wrong. All right. So I continue to talk to AI and if I can get up here to the beginning of this. Okay. Wait, there was my interpretation that I gave it, and it said all right. So then I said, okay, create an in depth interpretation. All right. So I'm going to go through this relatively quick because I think this is maybe the way we should go. All I'm trying to handle it every perspective that we can. All right. So here's what AI said. Here's an in depth interpretation of Matthew fourteen from a descriptive perspective, considering the historical, textual, and philological context. All right. So AI says the passage comes after two significant events. Number one, the feeding of the five thousand Matthew fourteen thirteen through twenty one. What does this demonstrate? This demonstrates Jesus power over nature and his role as provider. Number two, Jesus withdrawal to pray, highlighting his communion with the Father, a reoccurring theme in the gospels. Matthew's Gospel emphasizes Jesus as the messionic king and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, often drawing from the Hebrew scriptures to present Jesus as the divine son of God. So Matthew is going to try to demonstrate Jesus as the Messiah and he's the divine son of God. Keep that in mind, all right, Now, what is the historical and cultural context. The Sea of

56:06 Galilee known for sudden, violent storms due to its geography, making Jesus' ability to walk on the stormy water even more miraculous. So the location here is important because it's known for these violent storms. For Jesus to be even to be able to walk on the water and any way shape or form is already impossible and improbable. But in the people would have known how violent those storms would have gotten. You know that it's impossible even to be in these storms. Would be the kind of the idea. Now this is important. Now if you add the cultural context, the Jewish perception of water and chaos and Jewish thought, the sea would be connected with chaos and disorder Genesis one two, Psalm seventy seven. Jesus walking on the sea would have signified his power over chaos and in creation, evoking images of God's sovereignty over the waters in the Old Testament Job nine to eight, who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea. So from a Jewish context, this story would have demonstrated Jesus is walking on the water. Jesus is doing this. It would have demonstrated his deity. That's the point, his sovereignty.

57:32 All right, you see here, Okay, he can't. I'm skipping down through some of this. It jumps down into the text where it says he came to them walking on the sea. The act is just not miraculous. It's theologically significant. In the Old Testament, God alone has authority over the sea Psalm eighty nine to nine. You rule the raging of the sea. When its waves rise, you steal them. Jesus' action signals his divine identity, not merely a demonstration of power. So the fact that Jesus is walking, it's demonstrating his deity. It's showing that he is so he is not just a man. He is God incarnate everything.

58:19 Everything happening in this text is screaming Jesus is the eternal son of God. Then we see, in contrast to Jesus not being fearful, not being afraid of the storm, everyone in the boat is scared, and they cry out in fear right. And then what does Jesus say, take he it is I, do not be afraid. It is I is significant. It echoes the divine self identification in the Old Testament Exodus three fourteen, I am who I am. This is another subtle affirmation of jesus divinity. Now Peter, Peter here, then, Oh, if it's you, Lord, let me come to you. Now there's a lot of way we could break this down, but here's the point. It's offering a contrast. Jesus is the eternal son of God. He can walk on water. Peter is just a man. And no matter if you think he's courageous, no matter if you think he has faith nobody if you see him as as doing things in a way that nobody else can, what's the end result? He sinks because man will sink where the eternal son of God doesn't. The emphasis is that Peter can't Ultimately do what Jesus can, all right.

59:54 The storm ceases when they get into the boat. The wind ceased, Jesus authority over nature again and highlighted mirror, mirroring earlier accounts like the calming of the storm in Matthew eight. Then the climax, those in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly, you are the Son of God. This is the first time in Matthew's gospel that the disciples explicitly acknowledge Jesus as the son of God. This is a significant theological moment. The miracle leads to worship, underscoring that the focus of the passage is on Christ's divinity. Oh, let me state it this way. That the focus of the passage is on Christ's divine identity, not on human faith. The passage is best understood descriptively, recounting a historical event that primarily serves to reveal who Jesus is. Well, it may have an implication for believers. The text itself is not prescribing a past veteran for Christian living step out on faith.

1:01:02 It isn't said, this is what it's doing, displaying Christ's divine authority, highlighting human weakness and dependent on Christ's grace and culminating in worship of Jesus as the Son of God. That's what the passage is about. So we listen to a sermon where the whole thing. Was, Hey, if you just have the faith of Peter and you'll just get out of the boat, you get divine power. You get enabled to do the miraculous, you get enabled to do the impossible. That's not what the text is about.

1:01:52 Even if you want to make it a picture. Jesus commands, Peter attempts to obey, Peter fails. You have law, you have man's weakness. Then you have Jesus saving, which is the Gospel, and then you have worship. The law condemns us, or the law tells us what to do. We fail because we can't do it. The Gospel saves us. And then we worship not as a requirement, not in order that we can possibly try harder, we can do better, and we can go try to walk on the water again. Later we worship simply at a gratitude and out of an acknowledgment of who Jesus is and what he has done.

1:02:34 If you even want to make it a picture, that's the better picture. But The point of the passage is it's a descriptive passage describing in multiple ways that Jesus is God. The walking on the water, that's demonstrating deity, the uh you know it is I. All of this, everything is pointing directly to Jesus being God, being Deity. Now, why is it, once again we keep talking about this in twenty twenty five? Artificial intelligence knows that we should not be handling this in a prescriptive way. But church after church after church after church after church, devotional book after devotional book, sermon after Bible study after Bible study literally destroys this text, and it literally keeps people from finding the actual power and beauty in the text for this superficial, misleading, deceptive picture that gives you some kind of assurance and promise that you're never going to experience because you're taking a historical narrative that is descriptive and

1:04:08 you're making it prescriptive and prescribing people something that is fake medicine. It's spiritual malpractice. Even the dog next door, if you just heard that in the background, he's agreeing with me right now, Okay, he's not literally, But yeah, there's all kinds of dogs barking right now. But I'm just gonna leave it right there. I'm gonna leave it right there. That's one hour. Thank you for tuning in. I hope everyone has a great Thursday, a great holiday weekend.

1:04:48 Whatever you may do, hopefully it goes well great. How many do we get a lot of sermons posted on the sermon's two point oh? App about Valentine's Day and love? Do you think we get that? I don't know, I don't know. We'll see. We'll have to wait and see, all right. And currently, just to just to look, if we look here at the sermons, oh, there's six currently there are six live webcast underway. We have one in Ohio, we have one in Virginia, we have one in Tennessee, right, and we have one in Kentucky. So you've got a number of ones to go listen to if you so do so. All right, everyone have a great weekend. You can't walk on water. God bless