Will Rogers once quipped that the only things that were “necessary” in life were to die and pay taxes. Well, this administration has shown that it isn’t even necessary to pay taxes – even if you are the Secretary of the Treasury.
“Dei” is the Greek word that denotes a compulsion of some sort. In Classical Greek, the thought was that you were under compulsion by your own will, by laws of the state, by a spell or – most comprehensively – compelled by Fate. Fate determined the events in human life and history. Even the gods were subject to Fate. As the Hellenistic culture progressed, it led to an approach to life that was filled with anxiety and was fatalistic.
The word “dei” is used in the OT but not with the connotations of Fate. The Israelites, having been under the leadership of God’s word, did not have a concept of “fate”. God was in control of history and actively doing so. Under the influence of OT theology, therefore, the concept of “necessity” and the word “dei” itself evolved to carry the idea of divine will expressing itself in human action.
What led me to study the word “dei” was preparation for a series of lessons from the Gospel of Luke. The word “dei” is used 102 times in the NT and 44 times in Luke. Luke’s first use of the word is in 2:49 when the 12-year-old Jesus asks His parents, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had [dei] to be in My Father’s house?” Thus Luke is persistent to show that Jesus’ life was not the result of chance or accident. Rather, we see in the life of Jesus God stepping in and making history – the history of the salvation of man. It is necessary.
In Luke 4:43 – Jesus said, “I must [dei] preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” In Luke 9:22 – “The Son of Man must [dei] suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
Here’s one on the inspiration of the apostles and subsequently of the New Testament – 12:12 – “For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought [dei] to say.” In another context, verse 33, we see that Jesus’ life – as He says in 2:49 – is compelled by God’s plans. “Nevertheless I must [dei] journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.”
WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR US TO DO?
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Secondly, we see that the voice of God is the voice of determination. In other words, if God says it will happen, it must happen. We see that several times in the words of Jesus.
Third, we must preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. This is a moral compulsion due to the nature of the Gospel and the nature of human kind.
Fourth, we also must preach the Gospel in distant places just as Paul felt the compulsion to preach in Rome (Romans 1:16).
Why? Fifthly, because as we saw in Luke 12:12, the Gospel is what the apostles had to teach because it was the Word of the Holy Spirit.
Sixth and finally, while our lives are not under the divine compulsion that Jesus’ was under and probably not under the same intense divine compulsion that Paul was under, nevertheless we are under the divine compulsion to glorify God in our lives. Let us be about our Father’s business.
