The First Premise

I'm moving!

2011-02-17T07:54:00.000-08:00

I'm moving my blog to Word Press for many reasons but, you can find me at http://thefirstpremise.wordpress.com/ Come join me, won't you!

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 w/gloss and notes

2011-02-17T05:25:00.001-08:00

Text: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, ²“Tell the whole congregation of Israel: You are holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy...

⁹...“When you harvest the grain in your land, don’t harvest the grain in the corners of your fields or gather what is left after you’re finished. ¹⁰Don’t harvest your vineyard a second time or pick up fallen grapes. Leave them for poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.

¹¹“Never steal, lie, or deceive your neighbor.

¹²“Never swear by my name in order to deceive anyone. This dishonors the name of your God. I am the Lord.

¹³“Never oppress or rob your neighbor. Never keep the pay you owe a hired worker overnight. ¹⁴Never curse deaf people or put anything in the way of blind people to make them stumble. Instead, fear your God. I am the Lord.

¹⁵“Don’t be corrupt when administering justice. Never give special favors to poor people, and never show preference to important people. Judge your neighbor fairly. ¹⁶Never gossip. Never endanger your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.

¹⁷“Never hate another Israelite. Be sure to correct your neighbor so that you will not be guilty of sinning along with him. ¹⁸Never get revenge. Never hold a grudge against any of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the Lord.

Theme & Summary of Scripture: The Gospel announces salvation to the most unworthy(Lev. 19:1-2). Thereafter, God sends His “holy” people to serve (bear the Cross for) their neighbor in and through God-pleasing vocations (Lev. 19:9-18).

Theological Gloss:

Read incorrectly, Leviticus 19:1-2 teaches us we are to be holy like God (“Whoever does this will live by it”! - Rom. 10:5), then gives us a list (Lev. 19:9-18) of works which will transform us so we can, if we work at it faithfully, become more like God (Faith without works is dead - Jam. 2:20).

Read correctly, God announces the Good News to his congregation of the unworthy (Lev. 19:1-2). Thereafter, He sends them out into the world to serve (bear the Cross for) their neighbor through God-pleasing vocations (Lev. 18:9-18).

This is the theology of the Cross brought to bear on Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18.

Illustration: Love your neighbor in the same way that you love yourself (Lev. 19:18).

Growing up in a small town on the Iron Range, surrounded by mining pits and jack-pines, if your last name did not have nine consonants and a vowel, and go back at least four generations you were not “local.” My parents lived in Ely 21 years and they were never “local.” They were outsiders simply by virtue of where they were born: outside the city limits! A small town congregation can be like that too of course. If your grandfather’s confirmation class picture is not up on the wall or your family did not put up the trusses for the building, you’re not really a member of the church. This isn’t due to a lack of faith, resolve, commitment or motivation. It’s simply that, well, you weren’t born here. You’re not “local.”

That’s the picture the Holy Spirit paints for us this morning as well, about the “congregation of Israel.” Even though Israel was a dead branch, even though they’d always been dependent on God for everything because of their spiritual helplessness, and helpless in just about every sense of the word: helpless when they were in Egypt, helpless when they were in the desert during the Exodus, helpless when they crossed the Jordan, helpless when they were brought into the Holy Land, helpless when they were given judges, helpless when they were sent prophets, helpless when they were given kings (against God’s wishes), helpless when they were given more prophets, helpless when they were given a Savior... You get the point.

Even though everything is given to them by God and He calls them “holy” because He is holy (Not because of anything they’d done) still they insist on always pruning that family tree for the times when folks that weren’t “local” came around. Instead of understanding that they were holy because of their relation to the God who’d called, rescued, and led them; instead of hearing and obeying His Word that they serve their neighbor (“love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself” - Lev. 19:18), they worried over who could trace their family tree back to Jacob, or Isaac, or Abraham (Titus 3:9)!

Jesus says about those who constantly trim and prune their family tree that their roots don’t go back to Abraham but to Satan (Jn. 8:31-47). Why? Because they’re more in love with their family tree than the Tree of Life (and if they reject the love of God in Jesus Christ what do you think they will do to their neighbor!). Yet, it is Jesus Himself who is the Root of Jesse, the Branch of David, the Tree of Life, etc. But, praise God, who is kind and gentle and patient with you as He was with the congregation of Israel, on account of His suffering, death and resurrection for your sins you (wild olive branches) are grafted on to Him, the Tree of Life (Rom. 11:24) and in this way He produces through you good fruit unto eternal life! As Paul writes: If we have died with him, we will live with him. If we endure, we will rule with him. If we disown him, he will disown us. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful because he cannot be untrue to himself (2 Tim. 2:11-13).

Summary of Illustration:

We are hopelessly in love with our family tree over-against our neighbor and even the Tree of Life, Christ Jesus.
God says, “You are holy because I am holy...”
God sends His people out, freed from guilt and sin because of Christ, to bear their neighbor’s Cross in and through in God-pleasing vocations. In this way He produces good fruit through us, His wild olive branches.

*** Affliction and crosses are beneficial for gaining an understanding of God and His Word. (See: Isaiah 28:19. Likewise, “It is good that I am afflicted, so that I might learn Your statutes” (Psalm 119:71)).

**** The Word of God:

Binds us under sin and condemns us.
Testifies to us about Christ.
Consoles us so we may have patience and hope
Teaches, rebukes, corrects, and instructs us, so that the man of God may be perfected & equipped for all things (2 Timothy 3:16,17).

Psalm 119:33-40 w/Introduction & Meditation

2011-02-15T12:17:00.001-08:00

Introduction: The 119th psalm is a long psalm, containing prayers, comforts, instructions, and thanks in great number. It is chiefly written to make us excited about God’s Word. It praises God’s Word throughout and warns us against both the false teachers and against boredom and contempt for the Word. Therefore, it is primarily to be counted among the psalms of comfort. Its primary concern is that we have God’s Word in its purity and hear it gladly. From this concern, then, come powerful prayers, instructions, thanks, prophecies, worship of God, suffering, and all that pleases God and grieves the devil. But where one despises the Word and is satiated by it, there all these cease. For where the Word is not purely taught, there is truly an abundance of prophecies - but totally false and condemned! For it is then only service to the devil, who is this impure with all his heretics.

PSALM 119:33-40

³³Teach me, O Lord, how to live by your laws, and I will obey them to the end.

³⁴Help me understand so that I can follow your teachings.

I will guard them with all my heart.

³⁵Lead me on the path of your commandments, because I am happy with them.

³⁶Direct my heart toward your written instructions rather than getting rich in underhanded ways.

³⁷Turn my eyes away from worthless things. Give me a new life in your ways.

³⁸Keep your promise to me so that I can fear you.

³⁹Take away insults, which I dread, because your regulations are good.

⁴⁰I long for your guiding principles. Give me a new life in your righteousness.

Meditation: Our old nature that we carry around with us, with the devil pushing us and our worldly surroundings tempting us, desires “Keeping up with the neighbor.” The same was happening in the life of the Psalmist. That is why he writes, “Direct my heart toward your written instructions rather than getting rich in underhanded ways.” v.36. He desires that revived in the way of the LORD, he will look at that which makes him truly rich. He knows that the ways of the omniscient LORD, His judgments, His precepts, His statutes are the most important and other matters are worthless when it comes to his eternal welfare. Placing his trust in the all knowing LORD and His Word, the Psalmist is given a life of true riches which brings contentment to the heart.

The omniscient LORD knows our needs to make us truly rich. This is why He sent His Son Jesus Christ. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?” Rom. 8:32. “You know the grace of our LORD Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich.” 2 Cor. 8:9. Trusting this omniscient LORD we will be rich into eternity.

A New Antidote?

2011-02-12T07:21:00.001-08:00

By the time Martin Luther set out for Heidelberg in April of 1518 some of his previous works had already been widely circulated throughout Germany. Despite attempts to provoke a learned, public discussion Luther’s writings were not received as such by everyone. Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz recognized something was different about the works, a threat to prevailing teachings. His response to reading Luther’s works was to take action against him. Albrecht forwarded some of Luther’s tracts including the Ninety-Five Theses to Rome along with a request that Luther be censured, even inhibited in his duties as a District Vicar. By February, 1518 Albrecht’s request had been answered. Gabriel della Volta, pro-magistrate of the Augustinian order, through his correspondence with Luther’s superior Staupitz ordered that Luther be relieved of his duties as District Vicar at the annual meeting of the Augustinians at Heidelberg.

When Luther arrived at Heidelberg he was relieved of the post in favor of his friend Lang. However, Luther was still allowed to preside over the full-dress theological disputation for which he had prepared a number of theological and philosophical theses. The intent of the theses, it was presumed, was that Luther would continue the tradition of the order castigating Aristotelian Nominalism. Luther gave them something new instead. Although he focused his attention throughout the theses on sin and grace Luther did not rely on traditional Augustinian categories to argue against Nominalist opinion. He lays out his understanding of grace according to what he termed the “theology of the Cross.”

He did not formulate the common understanding of grace as that which helps sinners seek and discover God’s righteousness. Instead, according to Luther, the theologian of the Cross understands that, “true theology is in Christ crucified, and there is the true knowledge of God.” Distinct from the theology of the Cross Luther also described what he referred to as a theology of glory. A theology of glory is a theology of speculation, ignorant to the fact that, “God is not found save in sufferings and in the Cross.”

Instead of confining his understanding of God’s righteousness within traditional categories of sin and grace Luther formulated a critical principle for determining law and the Gospel. The former expressed God’s alien work and the latter expressed God’s work by which he makes sinners righteous.

As a result, Luther’s reading of his theses before the assembled order made for a lively debate. There was, writes Gordon Rupp:

“…some opposition, but when the junior Heidelberg divine shouted angrily, ‘if the peasants heard that, they would stone you!’ his voice was drowned in general laughter. But it was among the younger men that Luther made his conquests that day. One of them, a young Alsatian Dominican, Martin Bucer, was overwhelmed, and wrote home in high glee because he managed to have lunch with Staupitz and Luther: ‘Their wiles were not able to move him an inch… his sweetness in answering is remarkable, his patience in listening is incomparable, in his explanations you would recognize the acumen of Paul, not Scotus: his answers, so brief, so wise and drawn from the Scriptures, easily made all hearers his admirers.”

Luther’s theses were a theological shock and remain so to this day. The theology of the Cross is a way of speaking and acting that appears strange, fearful and thrilling. The theology of the Cross is formulated in language which is contrary to the predominant metaphysical and moral forms of interpreting Scripture and preaching.

Luther himself noted during 1515, that, “To no one does the preaching of the Cross appear so foolish as to philosophers and men of power because it is completely contrary to them and their sensitivities.”

The reactions to Luther that day have continued in some way to the present – with reactions even among certain Protestants gaining ground over time. Despite the evangelical movements that emerged from some of Luther’s discoveries, there remains essential resistance, not only by the Roman counter-reformation but even among Protestants, to Luther’s critical principle and the new theological language that emerged from him. To be certain, Luther’s difference in speaking “stands as opposed to today’s modern Protestantism as he stood against the scholastic-Catholic system centuries earlier.”

Luther’s way of doing theology is peculiar and alien not because it emerged from common sense or philosophy but from the Scriptures. It may seem counter-intuitive that theology and church would be surprised by what emerges from Scripture – but this is key to what Luther was discovering – protectors of Scripture can be overcome by it. A true critical principle, after all, lays bare a deadly truth that is at least partially concealed even when in plain sight. The force of the dialectic was emerging in Luther, in that what reveals also remains foreign, alien and hidden in the word of the Cross of Jesus Christ. In this word of the Cross, all good things are hidden, not in order for us to seek and discover them, but that Christ would become all in all.

The hiddenness of the God of the Cross cannot be known by any other word, or teaching, or study, or discipline but only by the proclamation of his word of the Cross itself.

Psalm 119 w/Intro, Text & Meditation for Sunday February 13th

2011-02-12T07:12:00.000-08:00

The 119th psalm is a long psalm, containing prayers, comforts, instructions, and thanks in great number. It is chiefly written to make us excited about God’s Word. It praises God’s Word throughout and warns us against both the false teachers and against boredom and contempt for the Word. Therefore, it is primarily to be counted among the psalms of comfort. Its primary concern is that we have God’s Word in its purity and hear it gladly. From this concern, then, come powerful prayers, instructions, thanks, prophecies, worship of God, suffering, and all that pleases God and grieves the devil. But where one despises the Word and is satiated by it, there all these cease. For where the Word is not purely taught, there is truly an abundance of prophecies - but totally false and condemned! For it is then only service to the devil, who is this impure with all his heretics - M Luther, Introduction to Psalm 119

PSALM 119

1 Blessed are those whose lives have integrity,

those who follow the teachings of the Lord.

2 Blessed are those who obey his written instructions.

They wholeheartedly search for him.

3 They do nothing wrong. They follow his directions.

4 You have commanded that your guiding principles be carefully followed.

5 I pray that my ways may become firmly established so that I can obey your laws.

6 Then I will never feel ashamed when I study all your commandments.

7 I will give thanks to you as I learn your regulations, which are based on your righteousness.

8 I will obey your laws. Never abandon me.

Meditation: Psalm 119 the longest of the Psalms speaks of God’s Word in every verse with a couple of exceptions. God’s Word is a law, testimony, precept, statute, judgment, and commandment. These are all the excellencies of the Word. Worship according to the Words is right and good and pleasing to the LORD, and displeasing to Satan. David, who in all probability wrote the Psalm, sings of that which is nearest and dearest to his heart, and it is his desire that we sing with all our heart that Word hidden in our heart. Possessing it, is the best of treasures, hearing it the most useful employment, doing it the most noble of works. It has been said, “Better never to have been born than to live and die without the Word of God.” Life is vain and valueless without the Word of God.

Trusting Him and the salvation He alone has provided for us in Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, and continuing in that Word; prayer and praise, comfort and hope, forgiveness and peace will go with us all our days. “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart.”

The Importance of Justification

2011-02-11T18:42:00.000-08:00

Later in his life, in his Latin Preface, Luther recalled how important the justice, or justification of God became to him in his early days. It was both a grammatical issue and most importantly an existential matter – it bothered him greatly since the judgment of his whole life hung on the meaning. Therefore, despite differences in scholarly opinion as to the approximate date of Luther’s discovery, one can clearly see a particular understanding of iustitia Dei emerging during the Psalms lectures.

The teaching about iustitia Dei Luther read in the Scriptures thrust him into contention with previous interpretations of iustitia Dei. Luther did not accept the doctrine that God was justified in himself, committed to aiding the very best efforts of a viator to ascend to him. Rather, Luther believed Scripture taught that God was justified through a two-fold work. God was justified when, through the opus alienum Dei, his words and deeds drove sinners into the depths, into Anfechtung and death itself so that he could then, through the opus proprium Dei, hand over Christ as pure gift, by faith. For Luther, then, the iustitia Dei and the iustitia Christi are not separate as they had been for the medieval theologians, but simultaneous.

As Luther himself professed during the lectures, on the one hand:

“If God is to be justified in his words, by which he declares that we are sinners, he must also be justified in his deeds, by which he asserts the same thing. But these works are scourges and Crosses. When they come upon us, they are like the Word of God who accuses and opposes our sin. Therefore they must be received with all fear and humility, and we must confess to Him, for he is righteous in His works.”

But, on the other hand, lest we be driven into permanent despair about the justice of God, Christ must be asserted as God’s mercy, truth, righteousness and peace for us. Luther restates God’s justice quite differently from previous theological schemes by reversing the direction of human destiny in the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. As Heiko Obermann observed, Luther herein attacked the whole medieval scheme of justification that was later affirmed at Trent:

“According to this tradition the iustitia Christi is granted in the justification to the sinner as gratia or caritas. But the iustitia Dei is not granted together with the iustitia Christi. According to this tradition the iustitia Christi is granted in the process of justification, but the iustitia Dei is not granted together with or attached to the iustitia Christi. The iustitia Dei remains the finis, the goal, or the ‘Gegenuber’ of the viator who is propelled on his way to the eternal Jerusalem by the iustitia Christi. The iustitia Dei is the standard according to which the degree of appropriation and the effects of the iustitia Christi are measured and will be measured in the Last Judgment. The iustitia Dei is the eternal immutable Law of God.”

By asserting that the iustitia Dei revealed at the Cross is the iustitia Christi that comes extra nos Luther relativizes the medieval doctrine of “fides charitate formata.” Faith active in love as it had come to be defined by Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Gabriel Biel and others was a dead letter for Luther – old wineskins incapable of holding the new wine of the Gospel. In place of works of love, Luther put forward the living Christ who was handed over to sinners gratis through faith alone. Justice cannot be attained en route to the eternal Jerusalem. Rather, “God wills to save us, not by a righteousness and wisdom from within [per domesticam] but from without [per extraneam]. Not that which comes and is born from ourselves. But which comes from without into us. Not which rises from the earth, but that which comes down from heaven.”

The Magnificat and Theology of the Cross

2011-02-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Luke 1:46 And Mary said,

“My soul exalts the Lord,

47 and my spirit has rejoiced greatly in God my Savior,

48 because he has looked upon the humble state of his female slave,

for behold, from now on all generations will consider me blessed,

49 because the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is for generation after generation

to those who fear him.

51 He has done a mighty deed with his arm;

he has dispersed the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones,

and has exalted the lowly.

53 He has filled those who are hungry with good things,

and those who are rich he has sent away empty-handed.

54 He has helped Israel his servant,

remembering his mercy,

55 just as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his descendants ⌊forever⌋.”

Regarding this text Luther asserts, Mary “teaches us, with her words and by the example of her experience, how to know, love, and praise God.”

And, second, regarding Mary's proclamation, he explains:

“… it is a different thing when God Himself works, with His own arm. Then a thing is destroyed or raised up before one knows it, and no one sees it done. Such works as these He does only among the two divisions of mankind, the godly and the wicked. He lets the godly become powerless and to be brought low, until everyone supposes their end is near, whereas in the very things He is present to them with all His power yet so hidden and in secret that even those who suffer the oppression do not feel it but only believe. There is the fullness of God’s power and His outstretched arm. For where man’s strength ends, God’s strength begins, provided faith is present and waits on Him. And when the oppression comes to an end, it becomes manifest what great strength was hidden underneath the weakness. Even so, Christ was powerless on the cross; and yet there He performed His mightiest work and conquered sin, death, world, hell, devil, and all evil.”

Luther was making a distinction between the proper proclamation of theologia crucis and the gouty foot dragging behind the theologia gloriae. The old pagan rule that like attracts like had become determinative for how theologians come to define the Cross. That is, for the scholastic theologians of the Middle Ages, Christ had to become a curse substantively rather than indicatively. As Anselm and those who followed posited, Christ in order to be the world’s Redeemer must be a pure lamb without spot or blemish. They argued that when St. Paul declares that Christ became sin and a curse the apostle is speaking descriptively. That is, Paul does not intend to say that Christ is literally sin and a curse but rather that Christ was covered by the substance of human sin in much the same way a pearl can become encrusted with mud. However, what lay at the heart of the matter for Anselm and others such as Thomas Aquinas was their desire to escape blame for Christ’s death. And, therefore, to avoid having Christ’s Cross applied to their own persons.

The old pagan ideal that like attracts like then not only allowed Christ to become like sinners as a sign of God’s love, it also provided the opportunity for sinners to pursue their own righteousness by following Jesus’ pure example of faithfulness to God’s immutable law. As Thomas professed, faith must be formed by love or by acts of love added to faith as directed by the law. In this way of doing theology Luther recognized that those who make a fiction of Christ’s sin likewise construct a fictitious means of salvation.^¹ And, in like manner, those who refuse Christ as a curse want their sin removed not in Christ but in themselves. As a result, theologians such as Anselm, Thomas and the like manufactured righteousness for themselves by attaching faith to works of law producing not only a fictitious Savior but counterfeit sinners as well.^²

In their attempt to segregate Christ from sinners in this way Luther believed he had hit on the basic confusion that had captivated the authoritative theologians of the church. They had committed themselves to a basic confusion in the assertion of law and the Gospel. And, in the confusion of law and the Gospel the theologia gloriae drives the Old Adam to the hidden God. Fleeing to the deus absconditus in this way, the Old Adam attempts to erect a god from the finest moral tenants of philosophy^³ and theology: a Manichaean god who is not behind death but is a good, benign god devoid of the Holy Spirit.

In the Magnificat of Mary, Luther distinguishes between sign and deed in the preaching of the Cross. He does this in order to express the reality of the Cross that kills and makes new. The Old Adam dies and the reality of this death is not an endless projection into the future, but the reality of the Cross. The Cross marks sinners, not as mud covers a pearl, but in the relationship of Christ to sinners, in the justification of the Old Adam by Christ’s own sin, execration and death. For Luther, then, death is justification.

1 LW 26: 278.

2 LW 26: 34.

3 Regarding Luther’s understanding of philosophy’s relation to matters of salvation, one need only read what Luther had written quite early in his career, on the inside cover of his edition of Augustine’s City of GodPhaedo of Plato, “Divinus Plato: Philosophia esti melete thanatos.”

My translation of Matthew 5:3-20 with brief notes

2011-02-05T09:55:00.001-08:00

The Sermon on the Mount: The Beatitudes

5 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain and after he sat down, his disciples approached him. 2 And opening his mouth he began to teach them, saying,
3 “Blessed are the spiritually helpless, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are the ones who mourn (over the sin of the world), because they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the gentle, because they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for [God’s] righteousness, because they will be satisfied.
7 Blessed are the kind, because they will be shown kindness.
8 Blessed are the pure (spotless w/out blemish) in heart, because they will see God.
9 Blessed are the one who works for peace, because they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of [God’s] righteousness [who is the Christ], because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of [immoral and] wicked things against you, lying [about you] on account of me.
12 Delight and be glad, because your reward is great in heaven, because they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.

The Sermon on the Mount: Salt and Light

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, by what will it be made salty [again]? The salt is good for nothing any longer except to be thrown outside and trampled under foot by people. 14 You are the light of the world. A city sitting on top of a hill cannot be hidden, 15 neither do they light a lamp and place it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it shines on all those in the house. 16 In the same way (imperative - command, not invitation) let your light shine before [the face of all] people, so that they can see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

The Sermon on the Mount: The Law and the Prophets Fulfilled

17 “Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly [Amen] I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one tiny letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all takes place. 19 Therefore whoever abolishes one of the least of these commandments and teaches people to do so [in this way] will be called of very little importance in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever keeps them and teaches them, this person will be called of very great importance in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you that unless your righteousness greatly surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven.

________________________________________

Notes:

v17) ‎”I did come... I did not come..." (Matt. 5:17-18). The infinitives have Jesus as their subject. "Any righteousness of ours, including all true good works, rest on him alone & on him as first having fulfilled all the Law & Prophets. Every blessing of the Beatitudes flows from Christ & from what he did for us by his fulfillment (Lenki)."

Lenski continues, "The moment this is overlooked the very heart of the sermon is lost; it then becomes nothing but a moral lecture, a new version of the old Pharisaic work-righteousness."

v18, 20) "Amen," and "I say to you..." (Matt. 5:18, 20) "Amen" is the seal of truth (Lit: This is most certainly true...) and "I say to you" is the stamp of authority puts on this teaching about himself fulfilling the Old Testament "Law and Prophets."

As Lenski writes regarding "Amen." "In Hebrew it appears only at the end of a statement or an obligation like our liturgical Amen... The entire formula is always solemn and introduces only statements of great weight."

v20) Without Christ's redemptive fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (Matt 5:20) we will never surpass the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees which Christ rejects (Matt 7:21-23). To quote

Luther, "we are to pray, Dear Lord, am a poor sinner, be gracious to me and judge me not according to my works but according to your grace and mercy, which you have promised and prepared in Christ."

v20) Without Christ's fulfillment of the Law & the Prophets (Matt 5:20) we'll never surpass the righteousness of the scribes & the Pharisees which Jesus rejects (Matt 7:21-23).

To quote Luther then, "We are to pray, Dear Lord, I am a poor sinner, be gracious to me & judge me not according to my works but according to your grace & mercy, which you have promised & prepared in Christ."

True righteousness occurs when the Lord, " would warn us against spiritual pride and would bring us to the knowledge of our unclean, wicked hearts and sinful nature and thus lead us to the hope of his grace (Luther)" - "This is the true righteousness (Lenski)."

____________________________________________

Jesus points to himself as the One who will accomplish what we cannot: to have perfect faith and love, perfectly fulfilling all the demands of the Law and the Prophets.

**** Can a baby have faith? Of course, because “faith comes through hearing” (Rom 10:17;

Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Psalm 22:9-10).

Would you say to a baby, “Love more. Be saltier. You’re light doesn’t shine bright enough”? Of course not. Just as a baby has faith, and not of himself, but as a work of God in him, so too is a baby salt and light (Matt 5:13-14) through the same work of God the Holy Spirit! Thus, “Unless you have faith like a baby...” (Matt 18:3)

Second, having "fulfilled all righteousness" Jesus leads us to our neighbor. He makes us “salt” and “light.” Through us He “salts” this sinful world, to preserve creation through His people, healing this fallen and sinful world through the preaching of the Gospel, and as a seal of His testamental promise.
Any time we try to go it alone, we deny Christ and are left with nothing but our righteousness according to the law.

**** Jesus makes salt and light, we make toads.

**** Anytime we try to clear away a commandment to suit our desires, all hell breaks loose. Literally! And once the first command falls beneath our scorched earth piety, the rest are carried up and away like ashes in the wind.

Any time we point to Christ alone, we deny our righteousness according to the law and are left with nothing but Christ’s righteousness, which looses the bonds of wickedness, undoes the straps of the yoke, and let’s the oppressed go free (Is. 58:7).

**** Example: Through eating Adam and Eve broke from God’s Word and fell under the power of sin, death and the power of the devil. Through eating Christians receive God’s Word and are delivered from sin, death and the power of the devil.

Psalm 112 with Introduction and Meditation

2011-02-05T09:52:00.001-08:00

Introduction: The 112th psalm is a psalm of comfort in which the pious, who fear God, are praised for their good life and are promised eternal comfort against all trouble. They are especially commended to a sincere confidence and trust in God’s grace, so that they may be undismayed and undaunted (which is the real, true faith) until they see the destruction of the godless and their foes.

PSALM 112

1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD and greatly delights in his commandments.

2 His descendants will grow strong on the earth. The family of the upright man will be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches are in his home. His righteousness continues forever.

4 Light will shine in the dark for the upright man. He is gracious, compassionate, and righteous.

5 All goes well for the man who is gracious and lends willingly. He conducts his affairs with justice.

6 He will never be shaken. The righteous man will always be remembered.

7 He is not afraid of bad news. His heart remains secure, trusting in the Lord.

8 His heart is steady, and he is not afraid. In the end he will look triumphantly at his enemies.

9 He gives freely to poor people. His righteousness continues forever. His head is raised in honor.

10 The wicked man sees this and becomes angry. He angrily grits his teeth and disappears. The hope the wicked man has will be destroyed.

Meditation: The difference between the ones blessed and the wicked: “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD - wealth and riches will be in his house - The wicked will see it and be grieved; The desire of the wicked shall perish.” v 1, 3, 10

Wise Solomon said, “The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the home of the just.” Proverbs 3:33. “The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools.” Proverbs 3:35. “There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.” Proverbs 13:7. Gathering in the wealth of the world may make us rich in the eyes of many. But all the riches that are gathered cannot buy the wealth that God gives to those who fear Him. One’s possessions may stretch for the 25,000 miles around the world but still the person may be poor. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” Luke 9:25. All of his gain will not keep him from being destroyed. At the day of judgment worldly riches will not open the door of heaven. Wealth and riches will be in the house of the one who fears the LORD. Fearing the LORD is trusting that Christ became poor that we through his poverty would be made rich. 2 Cor. 8:9

Jesus Christ endured the spiritual poorness of each individual so that the eternal riches of heaven could be given. His riches of forgiveness of sin, life and salvation make one eternally wealthy. In hell the wicked will see that wealth and grieve forever without it.

WEALTH AND RICHES OR POOR AND PERISH

A rich man may be poor but a poor man may be rich. We, who are poor in sin, are made rich in Christ.

Hell Explained By A Chemistry Student

2011-01-31T08:34:00.000-08:00

The following is an actual question given on a University of Arizona chemistry mid term, and an actual answer turned in by a student.

The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well :

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving, which is unlikely. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is endothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct.... ...leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

The Estate of Marriage

2011-01-24T07:09:00.000-08:00

from Martin Luther’s 1522 sermon called “The Estate of Marriage”

The world says of marriage, “Brief is the joy, lasting the bitterness.” Let them say what they please; what God wills and creates is bound to be a laughingstock to them. The kind of joy and pleasure they have outside of wedlock they will be most acutely aware of, I suspect, in their consciences. To recognise the estate of marriage is something quite different from merely being married. He who is married but does not recognise the estate of marriage cannot continue in wedlock without bitterness, drudgery, and anguish; he will inevitably complain and blaspheme like the pagans and blind, irrational men. But he who recognises the estate of marriage will find therein delight, love, and joy without end; as Solomon says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing,” etc. [Prov. 18:22].
Now the ones who recognise the estate of marriage are those who firmly believe that God himself instituted it, brought husband and wife together, and ordained that they should beget children and care for them. For this they have God’s word, Genesis 1 [:28], and they can be certain that he does not lie. They can therefore also be certain that the estate of marriage and everything that goes with it in the way of conduct, works, and suffering is pleasing to God. Now tell me, how can the heart have greater good, joy, and delight than in God, when one is certain that his estate, conduct, and work is pleasing to God?
Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason (which the pagans followed in trying to be most clever), takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores, and on top of that care for my wife, provide for her, labour at my trade, take care of this and take care of that, do this and do that, endure this and endure that, and whatever else of bitterness and drudgery married life involves? What, should I make such a prisoner of myself? 0 you poor, wretched fellow, have you taken a wife? Fie, fie upon such wretchedness and bitterness! It is better to remain free and lead a peaceful. carefree life; I will become a priest or a nun and compel my children to do likewise.”
What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, “0 God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers. or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? 0 how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labour, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight.”
A wife too should regard her duties in the same light, as she suckles the child, rocks and bathes it, and cares for it in other ways; and as she busies herself with other duties and renders help and obedience to her husband. These are truly golden and noble works. This is also how to comfort and encourage a woman in the pangs of childbirth, not by repeating St Margaret legends and other silly old wives’ tales but by speaking thus, “Dear Grete, remember that you are a woman, and that this work of God in you is pleasing to him. Trust joyfully in his will, and let him have his way with you. Work with all your might to bring forth the child. Should it mean your death, then depart happily, for you will die in a noble deed and in subservience to God. If you were not a woman you should now wish to be one for the sake of this very work alone, that you might thus gloriously suffer and even die in the performance of God’s work and will. For here you have the word of God, who so created you and implanted within you this extremity.” Tell me, is not this indeed (as Solomon says [Prov. 18:22]) “to obtain favour from the Lord,” even in the midst of such extremity?
Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, though that father is acting in the spirit just described and in Christian faith, my dear fellow you tell me, which of the two is most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling, not because that father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith. Those who sneer at him and see only the task but not the faith are ridiculing God with all his creatures, as the biggest fool on earth. Indeed, they are only ridiculing themselves; with all their cleverness they are nothing but devil’s fools.
St. Cyprian, that great and admirable man and holy martyr, wrote that one should kiss the new-born infant, even before it is baptised, in honour of the hands of God here engaged in a brand new deed. What do you suppose he would have said about a baptised infant? There was a true Christian, who correctly recognised and regarded God’s work and creature. Therefore, I say that all nuns and monks who lack faith, and who trust in their own chastity and in their order, are not worthy of rocking a baptised child or preparing its pap, even if it were the child of a harlot. This is because their order and manner of life has no word of God as its warrant. They cannot boast that what they do is pleasing in God’s sight, as can the woman in childbirth, even if her child is born out of wedlock.
I say these things in order that we may learn how honourable a thing it is to live in that estate which God has ordained. In it we find God’s word and good pleasure, by which all the works, conduct, and sufferings of that estate become holy, godly, and precious so that Solomon even congratulates such a man and says in Proverbs 5 [:18], “Rejoice in the wife of your youth,” and again in Ecclesiastes 11 [9:9], “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life.” Doubtless, Solomon is not speaking here of carnal pleasure, since it is the Holy Spirit who speaks through him. He is rather offering godly comfort to those who find much drudgery in married life. This he does by way of defence against those who scoff at the divine ordinance and, like the pagans, seek but fail to find in marriage anything beyond a carnal and fleeting sensual pleasure.

Formal Principles & Material Principles in Christian Theology

2011-01-22T14:42:00.000-08:00

In Christian theology, a formal principle in contrast to material principle is the authority which forms or shapes the doctrinal system of a religion, religious movement or tradition or a religious body or organization. Formal principles tend to be texts or revered leaders of the religion or tradition. If the formal principle is properly identified, a scholar will know where to look to understand the teachings of a religion. Here are some examples of the formal and material principles in the major branches of Christianity:

Reformed Church Bodies -- Calvin's Material Principle: central concept is the glory of God. Formal Principle: the Bible is the standard for all conduct.

The American Baptist Bodies -- Material Principle: The Absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ. Formal Principle: The sovereignty of the soul under God in all religious matters.

Roman Catholic Bodies -- Formal Principle: Scripture, Tradition and Reason. Material Principle: "Man's soul, since it comes directly from God, is good and strives for reunion with God, realized in the beatific vision of God."1

Lutheran Bodies --- The Formal Principle: Sola Scriptura (according the the Scriptures Alone). Material Principle: Justification by faith alone (Sola Fide).

Eastern Orthodox Bodies --- The Formal Principle: the Holy Scriptures and "sacred" tradition. The Material Principle: "Christ became man that we might become divine" St. Athanasius, i.e. deification of man.

The Anglican Bodies --- The Formal Principle: The Bible (66 books) are the only standard of doctrine. The Material Principle: Low Church -- doctrine of God's grace, High Church -- corporate worship, Broad Church -- a life which conforms to the ethical teachings of Jesus.

The Methodist Bodies --- The Formal Principle: Scripture, reason, teachings of the ancient Church. The Material Principle: the perfected man, i.e. entire sanctification.

Mayer. F.E. The Religious Bodies of America, Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1956, p.47

Psalm 27 for Sunday Morning Bible Study Class

2011-01-21T12:15:00.000-08:00

Introduction: The 27th psalm is a psalm of thanks. However, it also prays much and gives us comfort against the false teachers who give a false witness, blaspheming without any hesitation. For only entirely foolhardy saints would give witness, bold and impudent, before God - from whom they have no command! Yet we see it daily: the more foolish and unlearned the people are, the more bold and audacious they are to preach and to teach the whole world. No one knows anything; they alone know all. They prepare themselves to make war and revolt against the true saints and God-fearers. This psalm belongs in the Second and First Commandments and in the First and Second Petitions [of the Lord’s Prayer] - from Martin Luther’s introduction to Psalm 27.

PSALM 27
By David.

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation. Who is there to fear? The Lord is my life’s fortress. Who is there to be afraid of?
2 Evildoers closed in on me to tear me to pieces. My opponents and enemies stumbled and fell.
3 Even though an army sets up camp against me, my heart will not be afraid. Even though a war breaks out against me, I will still have confidence ⌊in the Lord⌋.

4 I have asked one thing from the Lord. This I will seek:
to remain in the Lord’s house all the days of my life in order to gaze at the Lord’s beauty and to search for an answer in his temple.
5 He hides me in his shelter when there is trouble. He keeps me hidden in his tent. He sets me high on a rock.
6 Now my head will be raised above my enemies who surround me. I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy in his tent.
I will sing and make music to praise the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud. Have pity on me, and answer me.
8 ⌊When you said,⌋“Seek my face,” my heart said to you, “O Lord, I will seek your face.” a
9 Do not hide your face from me. Do not angrily turn me away. You have been my help. Do not leave me! Do not abandon me, O God, my savior!
10 Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will take care of me.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord. Lead me on a level path because I have enemies who spy on me.

12 Do not surrender me to the will of my opponents. False witnesses have risen against me. They breathe out violence.
13 I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in this world of the living.
14 Wait with hope for the Lord. Be strong, and let your heart be courageous. Yes, wait with hope for the Lord.1

^a 27:8 Hebrew meaning uncertain; Greek “My heart said to you, ‘I have sought your face. O Lord, I will seek your face.’ ”

¹ GOD'S WORD Translation. 1995 (Ps 27). Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group.

Meditation: When it seems that I have a problem or trouble that I am faced with during the day, I can be assured that there is a way I can face it. The Psalmist shows me how. I can face it with the One Who is my Light and my Salvation. Turning to the Savior, Jesus, Who won the battle over all those problems and troubles when He gave His life on the cross for my sins, I need not be afraid. he strengthens me and through His Word, he will not let me down. He will take me through every problem and trouble.

____________________________________

A little "soul" from Scripture

2011-01-16T18:12:00.001-08:00

נפשׁ (√ of foll.; cf. Arabic نَفَسٌ (nafasun) soul, life, person, living being, blood, desire, نَفَسٌ (nafasun) breath, sweet odour, نَفُسَ (nafusa) be high in estimation, become avaricious; iii. desire a thing, aspire to it, v. breathe, sigh. Assyrian napâšu, get breath, be broad, extended; napištu, life, less frequently soul, living being, person. Vbs. appar. denom.; nouns in all Semitic languages: Ph. נפש, CIS^{i. 86, B 5}, Ethiopic ነፍስ (nafs); in the foll. = both soul, person, and tombstone, monument (as representing person, v. especially Duval^{Rev. Sémit. ii (1894), 259 ff.}): NH נפשׁ v. Levy^{ZMG xii (1858), 215}; Old Aramaic נפש, Nab. Palm. נפש, v. Lzb³²⁵ Cook⁸²; Syriac ܢܰܦܫܳܐ (napšo), v. 1 Macc 13:27, 28; Sab. נפס Levy-Os^{ZMG xix (1865), 255.290} Mordtm^{ib. xxxii (1878), 202} cf. Lih\yan, DHM^{Epigr. Denkm. 67}, Min. Hom^{Südarab. Chrest. 128}).

נֶ֫פֶשׁ S⁵³¹⁵ TWOT^1395a GK⁵⁸⁸³₇₅₆ n.f. Gn 49:6 (so even Gn 2:19 Nu 31:28 1 K 19:2 v. Albr^{ZAW xvi (1896), 42} SS) soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion, and passion (Ecclus 3:18; 4:1^(×2), 2^(×2) 13:12; 14:11);—נ׳ Gn 1:20 +; נָ֑פֶשׁ Gn 37:21 +; sf. נַפְשִׁי Gn 12:13 +; pl. נְפָשׁוֹת Ez 13:18 + 13 times; נְפָשֹׁת Ex 12:4 Lv 27:2; cstr. נַפְשׁוֹת Gn 36:6 + 4 times; נַפְשֹׁת Lv 21:11; נְפָשִׁים Ez 13:20 (but read חָפְשִׁים, v Co Berthol Toy); sf. נַפְשׁוֹתָם 2 S 23:17 +; נַפְשֹׁתָם Nu 17:3 +: —

1. = that which breathes, the breathing substance or being = ψυχή, anima, the soul, the inner being of man: a. disting. from בָּשָׂר: מִנֶּפֶשׁ וְעַד בָּשָׂר Is 10:18; הַנֶּפֶשׁ עִם הַבָּשָׂר Dt 12:23; from שְׁאֵר Pr 11:17; from בֶּטֶן body ψ 31:10. b. both the inner נפשׁ and the outer בשׂר are conceived as resting on a common substratum: אַךְ בְּשָׂרוֹ עָלָיו יִכְאָ֑ב וְנַפְשׁוֹ עָלָיו תֶּאֱבָֽל׃ Jb 14:22 only his flesh upon him is in pain, and his soul upon him mourneth; cf. ψ 42:5, 7; 131:2 Jb 30:16 La 3:20 [v. עַל 1 d], all poetical (cf. 6 c). c. נ׳ departs at death and returns with life: וַיְהִי בְּצֵאת נַפְשָׁהּ כִּי מֵתָה Gn 35:18 (E) and it came to pass when her soul was going forth (for she died); נָֽפְחָה נַפְשָׁהּ Je 15:9 she breathed out her soul, cf. 1 K 17:21, 22 Jb 11:20; 31:39. d. often desired that the נפשׁ may be delivered: from Sheʾôl ψ 16:10; 30:4; 49:16; 86:13; 89:49 Pr 23:14; from שַׁחַת, the pit of Sheʾôl, Is 38:17 Jb 33:18, 22, 28, 30.

2. The נפשׁ becomes a living being: by God’s breathing נשׁמת חיים into the nostrils of its בשׂר; of man Gn 2:7 (J); by implication of animals also Gn 2:19 (J); so ψ 104:29, 30 cf. 66:9 man is נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה, a living, breathing being Gn 2:7 (J); elsewhere נפשׁ חיּה always of animals Gn 1:20, 24, 30; 9:12, 15, 16 (all P), Ez 47:9; so נפשׁ החיּה Gn 1:21; 9:10 (both P), Lv 11:10, 46 (H); נפשׁ השׁרצת Lv 11:46 (H); נפשׁ כל חי Jb 12:10. נפשׁ is frequently used with the verb חיה: †וחיתה נפשׁ Gn 12:13; 19:20 (both J), 1 K 20:32 (E), ψ 119:175 Je 38:17, 20; †חֵי נַפְשְׁךָ 1 S 1:26; 17:55; 20:3; 25:26 2 S 11:11; 14:19 2 K 2:2, 4, 6; 4:30 (all JE); cf. †יְחַיֶּה נ׳ 1 K 20:31 (E), Ez 18:27 ψ 22:30; also Gn 19:19 Is 55:3 Pr 3:22.

3. The נפשׁ (without חיה noun or verb) is specif.: a. a living being whose life resides in the blood [so in Arabic We^{Skizzen iii. 217} G. Jacob^{Arab. Dicht. iv. 9 f.}] (hence sacrificial use of blood, and its prohib. in other uses; first in D), Dt 12:23, 24 only be sure that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is the living being (הַדָּם הוּא הַנֶּפֶשׁ); and thou shalt not eat the living being with the flesh (הַנֶּפֶשׁ עִם הַבָּשָׂר); thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water; that is enlarged in H, Lv 17:10, 11, 12, 14 and in P Gn 9:4, 5, cf. Je 2:34. b. a serious attack upon the life is an attack upon this inner living being 2 S 1:9 Je 4:10 Jon 2:6 ψ 69:2; 124:4, 5 Jb 27:3. c. נפשׁ is used for life itself 171 times, of animals Pr 12:10, and of man Gn 44:30 (J); נפשׁ תחת נפשׁ life for life Ex 21:23 (E), Lv 24:18 (H), 1 K 20:39, 42 2 K 10:24; נפשׁנו תחתיכם Jos 2:14 (J); נפשׁ בנפשׁ Dt 19:21; בנפשׁ for the life of 2 S 14:7 Jon 1:14; שׂם נפשׁ בכף put life in one’s own hand Ju 12:3 1 S 19:5; 28:21 Jb 13:14; חרף נפשׁו למות Ju 5:18 risked his life to die; †בנפשׁ at the risk of life Nu 17:3 (P), 2 S 23:17 = 1 Ch 11:19^(×2), 1 K 2:23 Pr 7:23 La 5:9; †בקּשׁ נפשׁ Ex 4:19 (J), 1 S 20:1; 22:23^(×2) 23:15; 25:29 2 S 4:8; 16:11 1 K 19:10, 14 Je 4:30; 11:21; 19:7, 9; 21:7; 22:25; 34:20, 21; 38:16; 44:30^(×2) 46:26; 49:37 ψ 35:4; 38:13; 40:15; 54:5; 63:10; 70:3; 86:14 Pr 29:10; †שׁאל נ׳ 1 K 3:11 = 2 Ch 1:11, 1 K 19:4 = Jon 4:8; †הִכָּה נפשׁ smite mortally Gn 37:21 (J), Dt 19:6, 11 Je 40:14, 15; †לקח נ׳ 1 K 19:4 Jon 4:3 ψ 31:14 Pr 1:19; †הִצִּיל נֶפֶשׁ מִמָּוֶת deliver life from death Jos 2:13 ψ 33:19; 56:14; †מלּט נפשׁ 1 S 19:11 2 S 19:6^(×4) 1 K 1:12^(×2) Je 48:6; 51:6, 45 Ez 33:5 Am 2:14, 15 ψ 89:49; 116:4; †נ׳ פדה 2 S 4:9 1 K 1:29 ψ 34:23; 49:16; 55:19; 71:23; †שׁמר נ׳ ψ 25:20; 97:10 Jb 2:6 Pr 13:3; 16:17; 19:16; 22:5.

4. The נפשׁ as the essential of man stands for the man himself: a. paraphrase for pers. pron. especially in poetry and ornate discourse, 70 times; (1) נַּפְשִׁי = me: אל תבא נפשׁי Gn 49:6 let me not enter (poem in J); תָּמֹת נ׳ מות ישׁרים Nu 23:10 let me die, etc. (poem); תָּמוֹת נַפְשִׁי Ju 16:30 (J); אמרה נפשׁי La 3:24 I say. (2) נַפְשְׁךָ = thee: לְאֻמִּים תַּחַת נַפְשֶׁ֑ךָ Is 43:4 peoples instead of thee; אָֽמְרוּ לְנַפְשֵׁךְ 51:23. (3) נַפְשׁוֹ = he: נפשׁו בטוב תלין ψ 25:13 he will not dwell in good circumstances. (4) נַפְשֵׁנוּ = we: נַפְשֵׁנוּ כְּצִפּוֹר נִמְלְטָה מִפַּת יוֹקְשִׁים ψ 124:7. (5) נַפְשָׁם = they, them: נַפְשָׁם בַּשְּׁבִי הָלָ֑כָה Is 46:2 they are gone into captivity; אוי לנפשׁם Is 3:9. b. = reflexive, self, 53 times: אסר על נפשׁ bind oneself Nu 30:3, 5^(×2), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12; לְעַנֹּת נ׳ Nu 30:14 to afflict oneself. (1) נַפְשִׁי = myself: לא אדע נ׳ Jb 9:21 Ct 6:12 I know not myself. (2) נַפְשְׁךָ = thyself: שׁמר נ׳ Dt 4:9 keep thyself. (3) נַפְשׁוֹ = himself: אהב כנ׳ 1 S 18:1, 3; 20:17 loved as himself. (4) נַפְשָׁהּ = herself: צדּקה נ׳ Je 3:11 justified herself. (5) נַפְשָׁם = themselves: הציל נ׳ deliver themselves Is 47:14 Ez 14:14, 20. (6) נַפְשְׁכֶם, נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם = yourselves: אַל־תַּשִּׁאוּ נ׳ Je 37:9 deceive not yourselves, also 42:20; 44:7; ענּה נ׳ Lv 16:29, 31; 23:27, 32 Nu 29:7 (P); נשׁמרתם לנ׳ Dt 4:15 Jos 23:11 (D). (7) נַפְשׁוֹתֵינוּ = ourselves: על נ׳ Je 26:19 against ourselves. c. = person of man, individual, 144 times, first in D; especially in H, P, and kindred writers: (1) c. אָדָם: נ׳ אדם Lv 24:17 opp. נ׳ בהמה 24:18 (both H), and so נ׳ אדם human persons Nu 31:35, 40, 46 (P) 1 Ch 5:21 Ez 27:13. Elsewhere without אדם: נ׳ ברכה Pr 11:25 one who blesses; נ׳ רְמִיָּה Pr 19:15 idle person; נ׳ תחת נ׳ person in place of person, Jb 16:4; כפּר על נ׳ Ex 30:15, 16 Nu 15:28; 31:50 (all P) Lv 17:11 (H). †(2) נפשׁ = person, any one: Dt 24:7; 27:25 Pr 28:17 Ez 18:4^(×3) 33:6; elsewhere only H P: Lv 2:1; 4:2, 27; 5:1, 2, 4, 15, 17, 21; 7:18, 20, 21, 25, 27; 23:29, 30^(×2) Nu 5:6, 15:27, 30; 19:22; 31:19, 28; 35:11, 15, 30^(×2) Jos 20:3, 9 (all P), Lv 17:10, 12, 15; 20:6^(×2) 22:6, 11 (all H); נכרתה הנ׳ הַהִוא מן that person shall be cut off from: only in Gn 17:14 Ex 12:15, 19; 31:14 Lv 7:20, 21, 27 Nu 9:13; 15:30, 31; 19:13, 20 (all P), Lv 19:8; 22:3 (both H). †(3) נפשׁ coll. for persons, in enumerations: Dt 10:22 Jos 10:28, 30, 32, 35, 37^(×2), 39; 11:11 (all D) Je 43:6; 52:29, 30^(×2) Ez 22:25; elsewhere only Gn 12:5; 46:15, 18, 22, 25, 26^(×2), 27^(×2) Ex 1:5^(×2); 12:16 Nu 31:35, 40 (all P). †(4) נְפָשׁוֹת persons Gn 36:6 Ex 12:4; 16:16 Nu 19:18 (all P), Lv 18:29; 20:25; 27:2 (all H), 2 K 12:5 Pr 11:30; 14:25 Ez 13:18^(×3); 19^(×2); 20^(×2); 17:17; 18:4; 22:27 (נפשׁים 13:20 v. supr.). †(5) נפשׁ = deceased person, sometimes c. מֵת, נֶפֶשׁ מֵת Nu 6:6 (P), נַפְשֹׁת מֵת (G S נֶפֶשׁ) Lv 21:11 (H); usually without מֵת, נפשׁ (ה)אדם Nu 9:6, 7; 19:11, 13 (P); or simply נפשׁ, Lv 19:28; 21:1; 22:4 (all H) Nu 5:2; 6:11; 9:10 (all P); elsewhere only Hag 2:13.

5. נפשׁ = seat of the appetites, in all periods (46 times)—a. hunger: נ׳ רְעֵבָה hungry soul ψ 107:9 Pr 27:7; with noun or verb of שׂבע satisfy Is 56:11; 58:10 Je 50:19 Ez 7:19 ψ 63:6; 107:9 Pr 13:25; 27:7; מתוק לנ׳ Pr 16:24 sweet to the taste. b. thirst: נ׳ עֲיֵפָה weary soul Pr 25:25 Je 31:25; נ׳ כארץ עיפה ψ 143:6; צמאה נ׳ ψ 42:3; 63:2. c. appetite in general: אֹיְבַי בנ׳ יַקִּיפוּ עָלָיו ψ 17:9 my enemies compass me about with greed; הִרְחִיבָה שְׁאוֹל נַפְשָׁהּ וּפָֽעֲרָה פִיהָ Is 5:14 Sheʾôl enlarged her appetite, etc., cf. Hb 2:5; Pr 23:2 בַּעַל נֶעַשׁ; Ec uses נפשׁ only in the sense of a, b, c; the נפשׁ craves, lacks, and is filled with good things: Ec 2:24; 4:8; 6:2, 3, 7, 9; 7:28.

6. נ׳ = seat of emotions and passions (151 times)—a. desire: †אִוְּתָה נ׳ soul desires Dt 12:20; 14:26 1 S 2:16 2 S 3:21 1 K 11:37 Jb 23:13 Pr 13:4; 21:10 Mi 7:1; תַּאֲוַת נ׳ ψ 10:3 Is 26:8; †אַוַּת נ׳ Dt 12:15, 20, 21; 18:6 1 S 23:20 Je 2:24; so also לנפשׁ according to one’s desire Dt 21:14 ψ 78:18 Je 34:16; כנפשׁ Dt 23:25; האח נפשׁנו ah, our desire ψ 35:25; בנפשׁ at one’s desire ψ 105:22 Ez 16:27; נ׳ יָֽצְאָה בְדַבְּרוֹ Ct 5:6; †נשׂא נ׳ lift up the soul, desire Dt 24:15 2 S 14:14 (read אליהם, not אלהים), ψ 24:4; 25:1; 86:4; 143:8 Pr 19:8 Je 22:27; 44:14 Ho 4:8. †b. abhorrence, loathing: געלה נ׳ soul abhorreth Lv 26:11, 15, 30, 43 (H) Je 14:19; וגם נ׳ בחלה בי Zc 11:8 and their soul also fell a loathing against me. c. sorrow and distress: †מרי נ׳ bitter, gloomy, discontented of soul Ju 18:25 (E) 2 S 17:8 Jb 3:20 Pr 31:6; †מר נ׳ 1 S 22:2 cf. Jb 7:11; 10:1 Is 38:15 Ez 27:31; עָֽגְמָה נ׳ Jb 30:25 grieved; אגמי נ׳ sad of soul Is 19:10; תבכה נ׳ my soul shall weep Je 13:17; נ׳ ירעה his soul trembleth Is 15:4; צרת נ׳ distress of soul Gn 42:21 (E). †d. joy: נ׳ תגיל my soul rejoiceth ψ 35:9 Is 61:10; שׂמּח נ׳ rejoice the soul ψ 86:4; also ψ 94:19; 138:3 Pr 29:17. †e. love: אהבה נ׳ my soul loveth Ct 1:7; 3:1, 2, 3, 4; יְדִדוּת נ׳ darling of my soul Je 12:7; דבקה נ׳ ב׳ his soul clave unto Gn 34:3 (J), c. אחרי ψ 63:9; חשׁקה נ׳ ב׳ soul is attached to Gn 34:8 (P). f. alienation, hatred, revenge: †תֵּקַע נ׳ מן the soul is alienated from Je 6:8 Ez 23:17, 18; נקעה נ׳ מן Ez 23:18, 22, 28; שְׂנֻאי נ׳ hated of soul 2 S 5:8 (Qr); שׂנאה נ׳ ψ 11:5 Is 1:14. g. other emotions and feelings: השׁיב נ׳ bring back soul La 1:11, 19 (i.e. revive, cf. c. שׁוּב 1 K 17:21 f.), hence fig. refresh, cheer, v 16 ψ 19:8 Pr 25:13 Ru 4:15; שׁובב נ׳ ψ 23:3; מַחְמַל נ׳ your souls’ compassion Ez 24:21; קצרה נ׳ soul was impatient Nu 21:4 (E), Ju 10:16; 16:16 Zc 11:8; כי אאריך נ׳ that I should prolong my patience Jb 6:11; ידעתם את־נ׳ הגר ye know the feeling of the stranger Ex 23:9 (R^D).

7. נפשׂ is used occasionally for mental acts + לבב (see 10); poss. also alone, owing to unconscious assimilation by late writers; but most, if not all, exx. may be otherwise explained: נפשׁי ידעת מאד ψ 139:14 my soul knoweth well (or I know well; cf. 4 a); בלא דעת נ׳ לא טוב Pr 19:2 that the soul be without knowledge is not good (but RV^m desire without knowledge, cf. 6 a); דעה חכמה לנ׳ Pr 24:14 know wisdom for thy soul (or according to thy desire, cf. 6 a); אל תדמי בנ׳ Est 4:13 think not in thy soul (or in thyself, cf. 4 b); כמו שׁער בג׳ Pr 23:7 as he reckoneth in his soul (but RV in himself, cf. 4 b); מה תאמר נ׳ 1 S 20:4 (but AV RV foll. G ἐπιθυμεῖ = תְּאַוֶּה; v. 6 a).

8. נפשׁ for acts of the will is dub.: אם ישׁ נפשׁכם (את) if it is your purpose Gn 23:8 (P) 2 K 9:15 (or if it is your desire, 6 a); בחרה נ׳ my soul chooseth Jb 7:15; מאנה נ׳ my soul refuseth Jb 6:7 ψ 77:3; נ׳ חפצה their soul delighteth in Is 66:3; נ׳ רצתה my soul delighteth in Is 42:1; (all perhaps emotional, 6 b, d, g).

9. נפשׁ = character is still more dub.: לֹא־יָֽשְׁרָה נ׳ בּוֹ Hb 2:4 his soul is not right in him (but G οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ [εὐδοκεῖ = רצתה], v. 6); נַפְשִׁי לֹא מְטֻמָּאָה Ez 4:14 my soul hath not (or I have not, 4 a) been polluted.

† 10. נ׳ in D, when used with לבב, is assim. to it, and shares with it the meanings of 7, 8, 9; and so in later writers influenced by D (unless we may think that ל׳ is used of intellect, while נ׳ is used of the feelings): thus, בכל לבב ובכל נפשׁ (see לבב): c. דרשׁ Dt 4:29 2 Ch 15:12; עשׂה Dt 26:16; אהב Dt 6:5; 13:4; 30:6; ידע Jos 23:14; עבד Dt 10:12; 11:13 Jos 22:5; שׁמע בקלו Dt 30:2; שׁוב אל Dt 30:10 1 K 8:48 = 2 Ch 6:38, 2 K 23:25; שׁמר מצות 2 K 23:3 = 2 Ch 34:31; הלך לפני 1 K 2:4; and Dt 11:18 1 S 2:35 1 Ch 22:19; 28:9 Je 32:41 ψ 13:3 Pr 2:10; 24:12. Note.—In three cases is generally found closer approach to supposed radical meaning breath:—a. שׁמן וקטרת ישׂמח לב ומתק רעהו מעצת נפשׁ Pr 27:9. Ges (after Döderlein) renders מעצת נ׳ more than odorous trees, so later edds., even Buhl; but B De SS transp. וּמֶתֶק נ׳ מֵעֲצַת רֵעֵהוּ. G Hi Bi ומתקרעה = the soul is rent asunder by cares. In any case נפשׁ is || לב, cf. 10. b. נַפְשׁוֹ גֶּחָלִים תְּלַהֵט Jb 41:13 his breath kindleth coals (of the crocodile). The piece is one of the latest in the book; primitive meaning hardly in such a passage; context favours ref. to passion or fury; perhaps sub 6 f, his passion or fury kindleth coals. c. בָּתֵּי הַנֶּפֶשׁ Is 3:20 perfume boxes; meaning evident from context; but not necessarily scent (breath)-boxes; may be 6 a, boxes of desire, or 5, boxes exciting the sense of smell; = smelling boxes or bottles. No sufficient evid. in BH, therefore, for meaning breath, odour.—See, for complete study of נֶפֶשׁ (all passages), Br^{JBL 1897, 17 ff.}

Notes on Isaiah 41:10-11,13

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Don’t be afraid, because I am with you. Don’t be intimidated; I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will support you w/ my victorious right hand. Everyone who is angry w/ you will be ashamed & disgraced. Those who oppose you will be reduced to nothing & disappear... I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand & say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid; I will help you.’

(GOD'S WORD Translation. 1995 (Is 41:10–11,13). Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group.)

‘Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

(New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Is 41:10). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.)

בִּימִ֥ין צִדְקִֽי

Idiom: בִּימִ֥ין צִדְקִי ~ my saving right hand

****
This use of "saving/victorious" צִדְקִֽיThis is one of the clues of Jesus' words in Matthew 3:15: "to fulfill all righteousness." According to Gibbs this means this is all part of Our plan of salvation for all humans..

Regarding the word translated as "fear" in Isaiah 41:10: Hithp. Impf. 2 ms. apoc. אַל־תִּשְׁתָּע Is 41:10 gaze not about (in anxiety, || אַל־תִּירָא)

Lit. "Do not look around in anxiety," or, (NASB) "Do not look anxiously about you..."

Consider this in light f Psalm 23:5: "You set a table for me in the presence of my enemies..."

And, Isaiah 41:10: Don't look at your enemies, look at who is leading you with His (right) hand of righteousness...

(Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (2000). Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (electronic ed.) (1043). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems.)

שָׁתַע (šā∙ṯǎʿ): v.—LN 25.251–25.269 (qal) be in fear, i.e., be in a state of great alarm, with a possible focus of discouragement about the future (Isa 41:10, 23+), note: NIV translates “dismayed;” note: also parsed as hitp of 9120

(Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)

šā∙ʿā(h)): v.; ≡ Str 8159; TWOT 2429—1. LN 57.125–57.141 (qal) accept, look with favor, have regard for, i.e., receive a gift or other object as acceptable (Ge 4:4, 5+); 2. LN 31.50–31.57 (qal) pay attention to, have regard, i.e., believe and accept information as true, implying both trust and a proper response to the object of truth (Ex 5:9; Ps 119:117; Isa 17:7, 8; Isa 31:1+), see also domain LN 31.82–31.101; 3. LN 35.54–35.56 (qal) turn away, abandon, formally, look away, i.e., desert or forsake an object, so no longer having care or regard for the object (Job 7:19; 14:6; Isa 22:4+); (hif) (Ps 39:14[EB 13]+), note: for NIV text in Isa 32:3, see 9129; 2Sa 22:42, see 8775; note: (hitp) (Isa 41:10, 23+), see 9283

(Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)

שָׁעָה TO LOOK (kindred to שָׂכָה No. 1, which see); hence, absol. to look around (for help), 2 Sa. 22:42. Specially—(a) followed by אֶל to regard any one (his prayers [offerings, rather]), Gen. 4:4, 5.—(b) to look to any one for aid, followed by אֶל Isa. 17:8; עַל Isa. 17:7; 31:1; בְּ Ex. 5:9.—(c) followed by מִן and מֵעַל to look away from, to turn the eyes from anything, to let it alone, Job 7:19; 14:6; Isa. 22:4.

HIPHIL, i.q. Kal, letter c, followed by מִן Psa. 39:14, הָשַׁע מִמֶּנִּי “turn thy eyes from me.” The form הָשַׁע is imp. apoc. for הַשְׁעֵה, whence הַשַׁע, and, by lengthening the former syllable (like יִרֶב, יֵרֶב; יִכְהֶה, יֵכַהּ), הָשַׁע. There is therefore no need to refer this form to a root עע֞, or that the vowels should be changed. Another הָשַׁע see under שָׁעַע Hiphil.

HITHPAEL הִשְׁתָּעָה—(1) to look around (for help), Isa. 41:10.

(Gesenius, W., & Tregelles, S. P. (2003). Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures (841). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)

Consider also:

Psalm 89:13 You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.
15 How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O LORD, they walk in the light of Your countenance.
16 In Your name they rejoice all the day, And by Your righteousness they are exalted.
17 For You are the glory of their strength, And by Your favor our horn (strength) is exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to the LORD, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

(New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Ps 89:13–18). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.)

‎Psalm 89:13 Your arm is mighty. Your hand is strong. Your right hand is lifted high.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne. Mercy and truth stand in front of you.
15 Blessed are the people who know how to praise you. They walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.
16 They find joy in your name all day long. They are joyful in your righteousness
17 because you are the glory of their strength. By your favor you give us victory.
18 Our shield belongs to the LORD. Our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.

(GOD'S WORD Translation. 1995 (Ps 89:13–18). Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group.)

O LORD, satisfy us with Your mercy... Ps.90:14

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Satisfy, (verb) from the Latin, "satis" meaning enough. That is satisfy, "to fulfill the desires, expectations, needs, or demands of (a person, the mind, etc.; to put an end to (a desire, want, need, etc.) by sufficient or ample provision; to give assurance to; convince."

Thus, O [LORD] (implied subject) satisfy (verb) us (direct object)

We have now to consider the word Chasad (חסד), which is used in various forms to designate God’s dealings with man, and also to indicate the mode in which men ought to deal with one another. The meaning of this word when used as a substantive (Chesed) is made clear from the fact that the LXX has rendered it ἔλεος, mercy, in 135 passages. The nature of the quality may be illustrated by the conduct of the Good Samaritan, ‘who shewed the mercy’ (ὁ ποιήσας τὸ ἔλεος) on him that was attacked by robbers (Luke 10:37); it is a practical exhibition of lovingkindness towards our fellow-man, whose only claim may be misfortune, and whom it is in our power to help, though perhaps at the expense of time, money, convenience, and even religious or national prejudice.

The general English renderings for the word in the A. V. are: kindness, mercy, pity, favour, goodness, and lovingkindness. It is often found united with righteousness, faithfulness, truth, compassion, and other divine qualities.

A few instances may be cited to illustrate its usage: Gen. 24:12, ‘O Lord God, shew kindness unto my master Abraham;’ Gen. 24:27, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left my master destitute of his mercy (LXX δικαιοσύνη) and truth;’ Gen. 24:49, ‘If ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me;’ Gen. 39:21, ‘The Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy;’ Gen. 40:14, ‘Shew kindness unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh;’ Exod. 20:6, ‘Strewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments;’ Num. 14:19, ‘Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy;’ Josh. 2:12, ‘Swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house;’ Job 6:14, ‘To him that is afflicted pity (should be shewed) from his friend;’ Job 10:12, ‘Thou hast granted me life and favour;’ Ps. 6:7, ‘I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy;’ Ps. 6:4, ‘Oh save me for thy mercies’ sake;’ Ps. 13:5, ‘I have trusted in thy mercy;’ Ps. 32:10, ‘He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about;’ Ps. 33:6, ‘The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord;’ Ps. 89:33, ‘My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him;’ Ps. 89:49, ‘Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses?’ Ps. 119:88, 169, ‘Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness;’ Hos. 4:1, ‘There is no truth nor mercy;’ Hos. 6:4, ‘Your goodness is as a morning dew;’ (the A. V. obscures the connection between this verse and the sixth, where the same word is found—‘I desired mercy and not sacrifice;’ see R. V. margin); Hos 10:12, ‘Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy;’ Hos. 12:6, ‘Keep mercy and judgment;’ Micah 6:8, ‘What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?’ Micah 7:18, ‘He delighteth in mercy;’ Zech. 7:9, ‘Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother.’

These passages put the general signification of the word Chesed beyond the shadow of a doubt. We now have to examine whether this meaning is to be enlarged or modified. The LXX adopts the rendering δικαιοσύνη, ‘righteousness,’ in Gen. 19:16, and some other places. We also find ἐλεημοσύνη and ἔλπις in a few passages. In Isa. 40:6, where the word Chesed is applied to the grace or goodliness of man which so soon fades away, the LXX δόξα, glory; and the passage is quoted by St. Peter in his First Epistle (1:24) according to this interpretation.

In the passages which remain to be considered, the adjectival form Chasid is found. This word must signify not only the reception but also the exercise of Chesed, just as Tsadik, righteous, signifies the reception and exercise of Tsedek, righteousness. If Chesed, then, means mercy, Chasid must mean merciful; and accordingly it is so translated in the A.V. in 2 Sam. 22:26, and Ps. 18:25, ‘With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful.’ The LXX, however, both in these passages and wherever the word Chasid is found, has adopted ὅσιος, holy, as a rendering. This course has had a great influence upon other languages, as it has led translators to confound Chasid and Kadosh, ὅσιος and ἅγιος, forgetting that to a Jew the meaning of the Greek word ὅσιος would be ruled by the fact that it was to be taken as an interpretation of the Hebrew Chasid, merciful. In the two passages just cited, the A.V. retains the right rendering, but the Latin has cum sancto, and the German Bei dem Heiligen. The Portuguese translator, D’Almeida, both here and in almost all other places adopts the good word Benigno, but he is quite an exception to the general rule.

Our translators have followed the multitude in a large number of instances. Thus in Ps. 145:17, we read, ‘The Lord is holy in all his works;’ here the margin properly corrects the text by suggesting merciful or bountiful. In Ps. 86:2 we read, ‘I am holy;’ where the margin reads, ‘One whom thou favourest,’ but it would be better to read, ‘I am merciful.’ The rendering godly has been adopted in Ps. 4:3, al.; and saint in 2 Chron. 6:41, Ps. 30:4, al. This last rendering must be regarded as unfortunate, because it serves to obliterate the real meaning of the word, and to confound it with another.

It has been held by distinguished scholars that Chasid primarily signifies a recipient of mercy, but this meaning is not always applicable, e.g. in Jer. 3:12, where God says of Himself, ‘I am Chasid.’ Here it cannot mean, ‘I am a recipient of mercy;’ our translators have rightly rendered the words, ‘I am merciful.’ Nevertheless, the two aspects of mercy, its reception and its exercise, are wonderfully blended in Scripture. the right and wholesome effect of the enjoyment of God’s lovingkindness is the exhibition of the same spirit towards our fellows. God is everywhere described as delighting in mercy—‘his mercy endureth for ever’—but He requires that those to whom He shows it should, in their turn and according to their opportunities, ‘love mercy;’ compare Micah 7:18 with 6:8.

It is a remarkable fact that the word Chasid, when applied to man, has usually a possessive pronoun affixed to it, so as to indicate that the persons who are exercising this disposition belong in a special sense to God. They are ‘his merciful ones’ (A. V. ‘his saints’). Merciful men may be very scarce (Ps. 12:1; Micah 7:2), but wherever they are found they are regarded as God’s own. ‘He hath set apart him that is merciful for himself’ (Ps. 4:3), and He gives His special protection to those that are worthy of the name Chasid (Ps. 32:6, 37:28). They show their love to the Lord by hating evil (i.e. evil dealings against their neighbour), and the Lord, in His turn, preserves their souls (Ps. 97:10). When He comes to judgment He will gather to Himself those who are His merciful ones, and who have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice (Ps. 50:5), and they shall not only ‘rejoice in glory’ (Ps. 149:5), but also shall have the honour of executing judgment on the nations (Ps. 149:9). In a word, mercy is the main characteristic of God’s dealings with man, and hence it is to be looked for as the distinguishing mark of every child of God. ‘He that loveth is born of God.’ The ‘godly’ are those who, having received mercy from Him, are exercising it for Him and as His representatives. It is owing to the fact, no doubt, that the word Chasid has been rendered ὅσιος in the LXX, that we find it represented by sanctus in the Latin, and by saint or godly in the English; yet it is a serious evil that the primary meaning of the Hebrew word should almost have disappeared from the face of modern translations. The practical nature of godliness is thereby to some extent obscured, and the moral demand made upon man by his having become the object of Divine lovingkindness is thrown into the background.

It only remains to notice the application of the above remarks to one or two passages of importance in the O.T., and to observe their bearing on the interpretation of this word ὅσιος in the N.T.

In Deut. 33:8, Moses says, ‘Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy Chasid (ἀνδρὶ ὁσίῳ, A. V. Holy One) whom thou didst prove at Massah.’ The old Portuguese translator, D’Almeida, here has amado, with a note referring the word to Aaron. The same word is used of Aaron in Ps. 106:16, where he is called the Chasid of the Lord (A. V. ‘the saint of the Lord’). The context in Deut. 33. shows that reference is made to the slaughter of the Israelites by the House of Levi in the matter of Moab; and the lesson we learn with regard to the word Chasid is that it does not betoken the weak ‘good-nature’ which some call ‘mercy,’ but rather that devotion to God which produces the exercise of true lovingkindness towards man, and which sometimes involves the taking extreme and apparently harsh measures so as to prevent the spread of evil. In this respect man’s mercy is to be like God’s.

There are several passages relating to David and his seed in which the words Chesed and Chasid occur, and which need to be taken together in order that their whole force may be seen. In 2 Sam. 7:14, 15, the Lord promises to David with respect to his son, ‘I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: but my mercy shall not depart away from him;’ compare the parallel passage, 1 Chron. 17:13. This promise is referred to by Solomon at Gibeon in 1 Kings 3:6 and 2 Chron. 1:8; and at the dedication of the Temple he closed the service by the words, ‘O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed; remember the mercies of David thy servant,’ i.e. the mercies which thou hast promised to show unto David (2 Chron. 6:42). On turning to the eighty-ninth Psalm, we find several references to these ‘mercies.’ The Psalmist opens by saying ‘The mercies of Jehovah will I sing for ever;’ ‘mercy,’ he continues in the second verse, ‘shall be built up for ever;’ he then proceeds to speak of God’s covenant and oath, which is faithful and sure and true, that David’s seed should be established on the throne for evermore. After extolling the greatness of God, he continues (verse 14), ‘Righteousness and judgment are the establishment of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.’ Returning to the covenant with David, the Psalmist sketches out its details, saying in verse 24, ‘My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him;’ and in verse 28, ‘My mercy will I keep for him for evermore;’ and in verse 33, ‘Nevertheless my mercy (A.V. ‘my lovingkindness’) will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.’ Then the Psalmist breaks out into a lamentation on the troubles into which Israel was plunged, and cries out (verse 49), ‘Lord, where are thine original mercies (A. V. ‘thy old lovingkindnesses’) which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?’ The Psalm concludes, as usual, with a note of thanksgiving.

We see here, first, that the word mercy seems to be used with peculiar significance in relation to God’s promise to David and his seed; and secondly, that it is constantly introduced in connection with God’s faithfulness or truth. In accordance with these passages we read in Isa. 55:3, ‘Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the mercies of David, which are sure (or faithful). Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and law-giver to the people.’

St. Paul, when addressing the Jews at Antioch, takes up these words as follows (Acts 13:32, &c.): ‘We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus (again). 3 or it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the mercies of David which are faithful. Wherefore he saith also in another place, Thou shalt not suffer thy merciful 4 one (A. V. and R. V. ‘Thine Holy One’) to see corruption.…: Be it known unto you therefore that through this (risen Jesus) there is announced unto you forgiveness of sins.’

With regard to the rendering of Ps. 16:10, we are so used to the expression ‘Thy Holy One,’ that it is not easy to make such a substitution as the sense requires. It may be noticed, however, that D’Almeida has ‘o teu Bem,’ thy good or kind one; the old Judae-Spanish version of the Hebrew Scriptures published at Ferrara has ‘tu Bueno,’ which has the same meaning; the Spanish translator De Reyna, and also his reviser Valera, had ‘tu Misericordioso,’ ‘thy merciful one,’ although this excellent rendering has slipped out of modern editions.

The meaning of the word Chasid as representing mercy ought to be borne in mind in other passages where its representative όσιος; occurs in the N.T. Thus in Heb. 7:26, the Lord should be described as ‘merciful and without malice,’ instead of ‘holy and harmless;’ so in Rev. 15:4, and 16:5, the Lord’s mercy, not His holiness, is specially referred to. The word ὅσιος is used of the Christian in 1 Tim. 2:8, where he is told to lift up ‘merciful hands, without wrath and contention;’ and in Titus 1:8 it is said that God’s steward should be merciful as well as righteous.
Girdlestone, R. B. (1998). Synonyms of the Old Testament : Their bearing on Christian doctrine. (111–116). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

The Creator and Lord of Heaven and Earth Suffers and Dies

2011-01-04T14:50:00.001-08:00

Therefore, you must carefully contemplate the person so shamefuly betrayed by Judas, judged and condemned to death on the cross by Pilate, and see that He is the man who has glory with the Father before the world was made (Jn 17:5). This we should take in and ponder most diligently. For godly people are exceedingly moved and deeply stirred in their hearts when they consider the nobility of this person aright. We are moved and stirred in our hearts when a simple, ordinary man, is executed, and we are moved and stirred in the heart all the more when an innocent man is executed as a notorious thief. How greatly moved and stirred in the heart would we be if a mayor's son were executed though he was innocent? Or, even worse, what if the son of a prince or emperor were quartered as a criminal without cause? The whole world would become indignant and cry out over such grave injustice, saying, "Oh, how intolerable!" But even if you put this all together and say, "This one is so nobly born, (this one) is innocent," and so on--what is that compared to the sufferings of the Lord Christ, who is the Creator of heaven and earth, compared to whom everything on earth, even the son of a king or emperor, is like a drop of water compared to a great sea.

If this is pondered and considered aright, it does not fail to produce fruit but must make everyone feel ashamed of his own sufferings, yes, of all the misery and suffering that may befall the entire world. For what is all the injustice, outrage, or violence that a king or emperor may encounter compared to the sufferings of this person, who is the Creator of heaven and earth? Even if you were robbed of your dearest bodily treasure--wife and children--is this more than He suffered? Look at Christ who is suffering and dying here.

In sum, with the word quis, "who?" all our suffering and the endurance that it produces (Rom. 5:8) are put down in their place; even if they might be praised as genuine and perfect, nonetheless they must be put to shame. For here the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth suffers and dies. Compared to this person, all men on earth, however eminent they may be, are but dust--indeed, nothing (Is 40:15-17). This is what we should consider in every part of Christ's suffering. When He is mocked, scorned, scourged, smitten, crowned, and crucified, every upright heart should think: "Compared to this suffering, the suffering of all men on earth is nothing but a child's game--yes, nothing at all." It is exceedingly moving to see such a noble person suffering.

Martin Luther, 'On the Passion, Death, and Resurection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.'

An Overview of Justification in the Bible According to the Grammar of Faith

2011-01-04T07:36:00.001-08:00

The idea of justification appears to be in some measure legal or forensic rather than moral or psychological. It is frequently taken in Scripture to be the opposite of condemnation; and in some of its aspects it answers fairly to our word acquittal. But it has often been observed that human legal analogies are very inadequate for the purpose of representing the relation of the restored man to his God. Acquittal is the judicial declaration that an accused man is not guilty of a certain crime, so far as the law under which he has been tried is concerned. He may have committed the offence, but either it cannot be brought home to him by adequate testimony, or else the law under which he is tried has not provided for the charge laid against him. This, however, is a most imperfect representation of God’s work in justifying, as it leaves out of sight the fact that His law is perfect and applicable to all cases, also that no outside testimony of man’s guilt is necessary, because God is acquainted with the very secrets of the heart; and, what is still more important, it leaves out of sight the truth which is to be gathered from Scripture as a whole, that the process of Divine acquittal is so blended with the entrance of spiritual life into the person acquitted, that, though they are theoretically distinct, one cannot be fully stated or even comprehended without reference to the other. The controversy between the Church of Rome and various Protestant bodies has arisen, in part at least, from the complexity of the relationship which thus exists between God and man.

Another difficulty has arisen in England from the poverty of our language. We have no one word which can convey the idea of righteousness and that of justification, as they are set forth in Scripture. In this case, as in many others, we see the wisdom of God in selecting Hebrew as the means of communication with His creatures, because here the ideas of righteousness, justification, and acquittal all cluster round one verbal root, and are seen to be parts of one whole.

The Hebrew word which expresses the being just or righteous is Tsadak (צדק), which is supposed to convey originally an idea of straightness or stiffness (see chap. ix. § 2.)

The verb is once used in the Hithpael or reflexive voice, namely, in Gen. 44:16, ‘What shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves?’ As a matter of fact, Judah and his brethren were innocent, but he asked this question under the impression that they were guilty. It is once used in the Niphal or passive, viz. in Dan. 8:14, ‘Thus shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’ It appears here to be used in a secondary or derived sense. Five times it occurs in the Piel or intensive, viz.: in Job 32:2, ‘He justified his own soul rather than God;’ 33:32, ‘If thou hast anything to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee;’ Jer. 3:11, ‘The backsliding Israel hath justified her soul more than treacherous Judah;’ Ezek. 16:51, 52, ‘Thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done. They are righteous in comparison with thee. Yea, be thou also confounded, and bear thy shame in that thou hast justified thy sisters.’ The conduct of the inhabitants of Judah had been so much worse than that of Samaria or Sodom that they caused these nations to appear or to be accounted righteous in comparison.

Tsadak is used twelve times in the Hiphil or causative voice: Exod. 23:7, ‘I will not justify the wicked.’ This principle of the Divine action is laid down as an example to be imitated by the earthly judge in Deut. 25:1, ‘Then shall they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.’ 2 Sam. 15:4, ‘Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!’ 1 Kings 8:39, and 2 Chron. 6:23, ‘Condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.’ This passage is important as giving a fulness of meaning to the word justification which otherwise might be missed. It is here not only acquittal, but the consequences of acquittal. Job 27:5, ‘God forbid that I should justify you.’ Ps. 82:3, ‘Do justice to the afflicted and needy.’ Prov. 17:15, ‘He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.’ Isa. 5:23, ‘Woe unto them … which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.’ Isa. 50:8, ‘He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me?’ Isa. 53:11, ‘By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; and it is he that shall bear their iniquities.’ This passage is usually explained as if ‘his knowledge’ meant ‘the knowledge which others should have concerning him;’ but there is no necessity to fall back upon this explanation. The Messiah was to be ‘acquainted with grief;’ nay more, he was to bear man’s iniquities, and they became in some mysterious sense identified with Him. It was this which became the means of justifying many. ¹ Dan. 12:3, ‘They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.’ Compare the teaching of the last verses of St. James’s Epistle.

It remains to notice the passages where the verb is used in the active voice. They are as follows:—Gen. 38:26, ‘She hath been more righteous than I.’ Job 4:17, ‘Shall a mortal man be more just than God?’ Job 9:2, ‘How should man be just before God?’ Job 9:15, ‘Though I were righteous I would not answer.’ Job 9:20, ‘If I justify myself (lit. if I be righteous), my own mouth shall condemn me.’ Job 10:15, ‘If I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head.’ Job 11:2, ‘Should a man full of talk be justified’ (lit. be righteous)? Job 13:18, ‘Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified’ (lit. that I am righteous). Job 15:14, ‘What is he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?’ Job 22:3, ‘Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous?’ Job 25:4, ‘How can man be justified (lit. righteous) with God?’ Job 33:12, ‘Behold in this thou art not just.’ Job 34:5, ‘Job hath said, I am righteous.’ Job 35:7, ‘If thou be righteous, what givest thou him?’ Job 40:8, ‘Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?’ Ps. 19:9, ‘The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.’ Ps. 51:4, ‘That thou mightest be justified (lit. be righteous) when thou speakest, and clear when thou judges.’ Ps. 143:2, ‘Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified’ (or righteous). Isa. 43:9, ‘Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified (or righteous): or let them hear, and say, It is truth.’ Isa. 43:26, ‘Declare thou, that thou mayest be justified’ (or righteous). Isa 45:25, ‘In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified’ (or righteous), and shall glory.’ Ezek 16:59, ‘They are righteous in comparison with thee.’

The passages which have been cited above show that justification is a term applicable to something more than the discharge of an accused person uncondemned. As in our courts of law there are civil as well as criminal cases, so it was in old time; and a large number of the passages adduced seem to refer to trials of the former description, in which some question of property, right, or inheritance was under discussion between two parties. The judge, by justifying one of the parties, decided that the property in question was to be regarded as his. Applying this aspect of the matter to the justifcation of man in the sight of God, we gather from Scripture that whilst through sin man has forfeited legal claim to any right or inheritance which God might have to bestow upon His creatures, so through justification he is restored to his high position and regarded as an heir of God.

The adjective tsadik is almost always rendered δίκαιος, righteous, in the LXX, and the substantives tsedek and tsedakah generally δικαιοσύνη, righteousness. The word ἔλεος, mercy, has been adopted in Isa. 56:1, ‘My salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed’; also in Ezek. 18:19, 21, where we read of man doing ‘what is lawful and right.’ The righteousness of the law was specially manifested in mercy, so that the Greek translators were right in point of fact, though incorrect in their rendering in these passages.

In several passages the LXX has adopted ἐλεημοσύνη, a word which has passed from its original meaning as the feeling of mercy or pity to the active development of that feeling in eleemosynary acts, or alms-giving. This is the case in Deut. 6:25, where our translation is, ‘It shall be our righteousness; if we observe to do all these commandments.’ Here the LXX, followed by the Vulgate and the translations made from it, say, ‘There shall be mercy for us if we observe,’ &c. The passage literally translated would be, ‘There shall be righteousness for us,’ &c. Perhaps the LXX has preserved the true meaning of the passage, and certainly it is in accordance with the general tenor of God’s Word. The same rendering is found in Deut. 24:13; Ps. 24:5, 33:5, 103:6; Isa. 1:27, 28:17, 59:16; Dan. 4:27, 9:16.

The verb tsadak is rendered δικαιόω, to make righteous or to acquit, almost everywhere by the LXX; but the various voices in which the word is used were not capable of being accurately distinguished in the Greek. This difficulty has reappeared in at least one passage in the N.T. In Rev. 22:11, the words ‘He that is righteous let him be righteous still’ are, if literally rendered, ‘He that is righteous let him be justified still’—a rendering which was adopted by the Latin Vulgate, and is to be found in most, if not all, versions made from that venerable work. This literal rendering is certainly very beautiful and instructive, though the usage of the LXX affords our translators some plea for departing from it. The R. V. has changed, but hardly improved, the rendering.

from Robert Baker Girdstone, 'Synonyms of the Old Testament'

A Prayer for News Year's Eve by Bo Giertz

2010-12-31T15:58:00.000-08:00

LORD, You can raise up the children of Abraham from dead stones. You had mercy on us, who weren't Your people, and allowed us to share in the Gospel too. You also stretched out Your hand to me and included me in Your people, although I did not have the right to belong to them. You have awakened my dead heart to life so I can believe in You. You have made me a child of Abraham so I can know that I am included in Your good thoughts and Your saving work. Maintain this faith in my heart, and let me live with You and for You all the days of my life. Amen.

The Divine Word Holds the Universe Together

2010-12-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made."

In these words John the theologian teaches that nothing exists or remains in being except in and through the Word.

Think of a musician tuning his lyre. By his skill he adjusts high notes to low and intermediate notes to the rest, and produces a series of harmonies. So too the wisdom of God holds the world like a lyre and joins things in the air to those on earth, and things in heaven to those in the air, and brings each part into harmony with the whole. By his decree and will he regulates them all to produce the beauty and harmony of a single, well-ordered universe. While remaining unchanged with his Father, he moves all creation by his unchanging nature, according to the Father’s will. To everything he gives existence and life in accordance with its nature, and so creates a wonderful and truly divine harmony.

To illustrate this profound mystery, let us take the example of a choir of many singers. A choir is composed of a variety of men, women and children, of both old and young. Under the direction of one conductor, each sings in the way that is natural for him: men with men’s voices, boys with boys’ voices, old people with old voices, young people with young voices. Yet all of them produce a single harmony. Or consider the example of our soul. It moves our senses according to their several functions so that in the presence of a single object they all act simultaneously: the eye sees, the ear hears, the hand touches, the nose smells, the tongue tastes, and often the other parts of the body act as well as, for example, the feet may walk.

Although this is only a poor comparison, it gives some idea of how the whole universe is governed. The Word of God has but to give a gesture of command and everything falls into place; each creature performs its own proper function, and all together constitute one single harmonious order.

- from Athanasius, 'The Divine Word Holds the Universe Together'

The Son as Incarnate Wisdom

2010-12-28T10:31:00.000-08:00

The only-begotten Son, the Wisdom of God, created the entire universe. Scripture says: You have made all things by your wisdom, and the earth is full of your creatures. Yet simply to be was not enough: God also wanted his creatures to be good. That is why he was pleased that his own wisdom should descend to their level and impress upon each of them singly and upon all of them together a certain resemblance to their Model. It would then be manifest that God’s creatures shared in his wisdom and that all his works were worthy of him.

For as the word we speak is an image of the Word who is God’s Son, so also is the wisdom implanted in us an image of the Wisdom who is God’s Son. It gives us the ability to know and understand and so makes us capable of receiving him who is the all-creative Wisdom, through whom we can come to know the Father.Whoever has the Son has the Father also, Scripture says, and Whoever receives me receives the One who sent me. And so, since this image of the Wisdom of God has been produced in us and in all creatures, the true and creative Wisdom rightly takes to himself what applies to his image and says: The Lord created me in his works.

But because the World was not wise enough to recognize God in his wisdom, as we have explained it, God determined to save those who believe by means of the “foolishness” of the message that we preach. Not wishing to be known any longer, as in former times, through the mere image and shadow of his wisdom existing in creatures, he caused the true Wisdom himself to take flesh, to become man, and to suffer death on the cross so that all who believed in him might be saved by faith.

Yet this was the same Wisdom of God who had in the beginning revealed himself and his Father through himself by means of his image in creatures (which is why Wisdom too is said to be created). Later, as John declares, that Wisdom, who is also the Word, became flesh, and after destroying the power of death and saving our race, he revealed himself and his Father through himself with greater clarity. Grant, he prayed, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

So now the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God, since it is one and the same thing to know the Father through the Son, and to know the Son who comes from the Father. The Father rejoices in his Son, and with the same joy the Son delights in the Father and says: I was his joy; every day I took delight in his presence.

- from Athanasius, 'The Son as Incarnate Wisdom'

God the Word Offered His Body

2010-12-27T10:27:00.000-08:00

God the Word of the great and good Father did not abandon human nature as it was falling into corruption and decay. By offering his own body he wiped out the death towards which mankind was heading. By his teaching he healed their ignorance, and by his power and might he re-founded the whole of human nature.

If you want confirmation of this, look to the authority of Christ’s own disciples and what they have written about God: The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect that if one man has died for all, then all men should be dead; and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them, our Lord Jesus Christ. And again: We see in Jesus one who was for a short while made lower than the angels and is now crowned with glory and splendor because he submitted to death; by God’s grace he had to experience death for all mankind. Then he gives the reason why only God the Word could become man: It was appropriate that God, for whom everything exists and through whom everything exists, should make perfect, through suffering, the leader who would take them to their salvation. These words mean that the rescue of mankind from corruption and decay was the task of none other than God the Word, by whom they were originally created.

The Word’s purpose behind taking on a body was that he should become a sacrifice for bodies of the same kind, as scripture says: Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, he too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could take away all the power of him who had power over death, and set free all those who had been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. So by offering up his own body he brought an end to the law that had been condemning us, and by giving us the hope of resurrection he gave our lives a new beginning.

It was through the act of man that death received power over man, and through the act of God the Word for man that death lost its power and the resurrection of life took its place. Thus Paul said: Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man. Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ... and so on. We no longer die to be condemned, we die to be raised up and await the resurrection of all, which God will bring about at a time of his choosing, the creator of all things and the giver of all gifts.

- from Athanasius, 'God the Word Offered His Body'

A Translation & Brief Examination of Psalm 23

2010-12-26T06:23:00.003-08:00

Psalm 23 (Pastor’s literal translation)

The LORD is my shepherd, I do no not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside waters of rest. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of deep darkness (the shadow of death) I fear no harm because You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup overflows. Only goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell (return to) the house of the LORD for length of days.

Theme

Psalm 23:6 ~ Only goodness & lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, & I will dwell (return to) the house of the LORD for length of days.

Psalm 23 (GOD’S WORD translation)

¹ The Lord is my shepherd.

I am never in need.

² He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside peaceful waters.

³ He renews my soul.

He guides me along the paths of righteousness

for the sake of his name.

⁴ Even though I walk through the dark valley of death,

because you are with me, I fear no harm.

Your rod and your staff give me courage.

⁵ You prepare a banquet for me while my enemies watch.

You anoint my head with oil.

My cup overflows.

⁶ Certainly, goodness and mercy will stay close to me all the days of my life,

and I will remain in the Lord’s house for days without end.

Notes

"radaph" (follow) has the picture of sheep-herding dogs biting at the heels of the sheep to keep them together as a herd, but in this circumstance it's goodness and mercy.

Since goodness and mercy are attributes of God, and He is our Good Shepherd, the "hound" which "follows" us is the divine sheep-herding dog Himself! On the other hand, for those who do not receive the promise of Salvation, who do not possess Christ through faith, He is the hound of hell!

The consequences of "turning away from the face of God" is that sinners are turning away from "goodness and lovingkindness" believing they are, in truth, malediction and wrath. Thus, when we run in terror from the God-who-hunts-us, it is really God-with-us we are running away from. This is the state of the Old Adam; I run away from goodness and loving kindness, believing they are malediction and wrath. Whereas I run to malediction and wrath believing they are my greatest goodness and those who offer it to me are showing me the highest and most holy lovingkindness! Thank God then, ONLY goodness and lovingkindness will follow us when God comes to “herd” us home to Him!

Readings from the Prophet Isaiah for Christmas Morning

2010-12-25T16:52:00.000-08:00

Isa. 7:4 So the Lord himself will give you this sign: A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and she will name him Immanuel [God Is With Us].

Isa. 9:6-7 A child will be born for us. A son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. He will be named:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and peace will have unlimited growth. He will establish David’s throne and kingdom. He will uphold it with justice and righteousness now and forever. The Lord of Armies is determined to do this!

Isa. 35:4-6 Tell those who are terrified, “Be brave; don’t be afraid. Your God will come with vengeance, with divine revenge. He will come and rescue you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged. Then those who are lame will leap like deer, and those who cannot speak will shout for joy. Water will gush out into the desert, and streams will gush out into the wilderness.

Isa. 40:1-5, 9 “Comfort my people! Comfort them!” says your God.“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and announce to it that its time of hard labor is over and its wrongs have been paid for. It has received from the Lord double for all its sins.” A voice cries out in the desert: “Clear a way for the Lord. Make a straight highway in the wilderness for our God. Every valley will be raised. Every mountain and hill will be lowered. Steep places will be made level. Rough places will be made smooth. Then the Lord’s glory will be revealed and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken.”

Go up a high mountain, Zion. Tell the good news! Call out with a loud voice, Jerusalem.Tell the good news! Raise your voice without fear.Tell the cities of Judah: “Here is your God!”

Isa. 49:6, 13-17 Now, the Lord says, “You are not just my servant who restores the tribes of Jacob and brings back those in Israel whom I have preserved. I have also made you a light for the nations so that you would save people all over the world.”

Isa. 50:6 I will offer my back to those who whip me and my cheeks to those who pluck hairs out of my beard. I will not turn my face away from those who humiliate me and spit on me.

Isa. 53:1-7, 9, 12 Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord’s power been revealed? He grew up in his presence like a young tree, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that would make us look at him. He had nothing in his appearance that would make us desire him. He was despised and rejected by people. He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces, and we didn’t consider him to be worth anything. He certainly has taken upon himself our suffering and carried our sorrows, but we thought that God had wounded him, beat him, and punished him. He was wounded for our rebellious acts. He was crushed for our sins. He was punished so that we could have peace, and we received healing from his wounds. We have all strayed like sheep. Each one of us has turned to go his own way, and the Lord has laid all our sins on him. He was abused and punished, but he didn’t open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was like a sheep that is silent when its wool is cut off. He didn’t open his mouth.

He was placed in a tomb with the wicked. He was put there with the rich when he died, although he had done nothing violent and had never spoken a lie.

So I will give him a share among the mighty, and he will divide the prize with the strong, because he poured out his life in death and he was counted with sinners. He carried the sins of many. He intercedes for those who are rebellious.

P: In many and various ways, God spoke to His people of old by the prophets.

C: But now in the last days, he has spoken to us by His Son. (Hebrews 1:1-2a)

ALL: Hallelujah! Come LORD Jesus!

God Took Our Nature From Mary

2010-12-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

The Word took to himself the sons of Abraham, says the Apostle, and so had to be like his brothers in all things. He had then to take a body like ours. This explains the fact of Mary’s presence: she is to provide him with a body of his own, to be offered for our sake. Scripture records her giving birth, and says: She wrapped him in swaddling clothes. Her breasts, which fed him, were called blessed. Sacrifice was offered because the child was her firstborn. Gabriel used careful and prudent language when he announced his birth. He did not speak of “what will be born in you” to avoid the impression that a body would be introduced into her womb from outside; he spoke of “what will be born from you”, so that we might know by faith that her child originated within her and from her. By taking our nature and offering it in sacrifice, the Word was to destroy it completely and then invest it with his own nature, and so prompt the Apostle to say: This corruptible body must put on incorruption; this mortal body must put on immortality.

This was not done in outward show only, as some have imagined. This is not so. Our Saviour truly became man, and from this has followed the salvation of man as a whole. Our salvation is in no way fictitious, nor does it apply only to the body. The salvation of the whole man, that is, of soul and body, has really been achieved in the Word himself.

What was born of Mary was therefore human by nature, in accordance with the inspired Scriptures, and the body of the Lord was a true body: It was a true body because it was the same as ours. Mary, you see, is our sister, for we are all born from Adam.

The words of St John, the Word was made flesh, bear the same meaning, as we may see from a similar turn of phrase in St Paul: Christ was made a curse for our sake. Man’s body has acquired something great through its communion and union with the Word. From being mortal it has been made immortal; though it was a living body it has become a spiritual one; though it was made from the earth it has passed through the gates of heaven. Even when the Word takes a body from Mary, the Trinity remains a Trinity, with neither increase nor decrease. It is for ever perfect. In the Trinity we acknowledge one Godhead, and thus one God, the Father of the Word, is proclaimed in the Church.

- from Athanasius, 'God Took Our Nature From Mary'

God Became Man To Redeem Us

2010-12-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

The Word of God, incorporeal, incorruptible and immaterial, entered our world. Yet it was not as if he had been remote from it up to that time. For there is no part of the world that was ever without his presence; together with his Father, he continually filled all things and place. Out of his loving-kindness for us he came to us, and we see this in the way he revealed himself openly to us. Taking pity on mankind’s weakness, and moved by our corruption, he could not stand aside and see death have the mastery over us; he did not want creation to perish and his Father’s work in fashioning man to be in vain. He therefore took to himself a body, no different from our own, for he did not wish simply to be in a body or only to be seen. If he had wanted simply to be seen, he could indeed have taken another, and nobler, body. Instead, he took our body in its reality. Within the Virgin he built himself a temple, that is, a body; he made it his own instrument in which to dwell and to reveal himself. In this way he received from mankind a body like our own, and, since all were subject to the corruption of death, he delivered this body over to death for all, and with supreme love offered it to the Father. He did so to destroy the law of corruption passed against all men, since all died in him. The law, which had spent its force on the body of the Lord, could no longer have any power over his fellowmen. Moreover, this was the way in which the Word was to restore mankind to immortality, after it had fallen into corruption, and summon it back from death to life. He utterly destroyed the power death had against mankind - as fire consumes chaff - by means of the body he had taken and the grace of the resurrection.

This is the reason why the Word assumed a body that could die, so that this body, sharing in the Word who is above all, might satisfy death’s requirement in place of all. Because of the Word dwelling in that body, it would remain incorruptible, and all would be freed for ever from corruption by the grace of the resurrection. In death the Word made a spotless sacrifice and oblation of the body he had taken. by dying for others, he immediately banished death for all mankind. In this way the Word of God, who is above all, dedicated and offered his temple, the instrument that was his body, for us all, as he said, and so paid by his own death the debt that was owed. The immortal Son of God, united with all men by likeness of nature, thus fulfilled all justice in restoring mankind to immortality by the promise of the resurrection. The corruption of death no longer holds any power over mankind, thanks to the Word, who has come to dwell among them through his one body.

- from Athanasius, 'God Became Man To Redeem Us'

Jesus, the One True Human Being

2010-12-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

Hans Iwand asserted that Jesus Christ alone stands among us all as true human being - this is the significance of his incarnation... Therefore, the incarnation of Christ is the very opposite of the deification of Adam. The crucified, 'as true human being,' stands in a world whose people gave up their own truth, the truth of the their existence, depriving themselves of the knowledge of God. Hence, he stands as true human being amidst 'unfortunate, arrogant gods.' The "true matter" for the old Adam - the 'homo-religiosus' - is that God's work at the Cross and resurrection of Jesus is where true humanity is revealed, in the struggle of 'the Life' overcoming the power and the kingdom and glory of death. In doing this, Jesus regains "true human being" for us - he alone is true human being. This truth - "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life!" -is understood in the present tense not as the final destination of 'homo-religiosus' but the termination of all creaturely attempts at deifying the old Adam. The new reality, and the new language (nova lingua), is that Jesus as the one true human being justifies sinners, creating the possibility for a "new birth." The old Adam - the 'Homo-religiosus' - is cut off from this point on. What this means in the present tense is that every Christian sermon, if it is to call itself "Christ-ian" must procliam God's "promissio," his promise that Christ's resurrection heralds a new Exodus, a new creation, a new language and way of understanding the human being, as well as the forgiveness of sin, the new aeon, God's time, the world, our time, etc. God's word of the Cross contradicts the reality in which 'homo-religiosus' seeks to justify his destiny. Hans Iwand's final strike against homo-religiosus comes when he writes: Justification is the 'incomprehensible,' profoundly 'scandalous,' and at the same time absolutely 'unpractical' and ethically 'contestable' in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Justification is not 'there' for achieving 'something,' as thought by Albrecht Ritschl and his school, such as giving the human being a good conscience that enables him, as an ethical person, to continue the struggle against his instincts and false inclinations. Hence, it is not the motivating force within the entire ethical process, but is itself a terminus, an end, the ultimate power and purpose of all purposes. The Cross presents the world with the one true human being.

Jesus... What's In A Name?

2010-12-21T19:34:00.000-08:00

The name borne by Jesus is in the first instance an expression of His humanity. The three Gospels speak of One who bears this common name. It is by this name that He is discussed among the people. This is the name by which He is addressed. To distinguish Him from others of the same name there is added ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ τῆς Γαλιλαίας, or ὁ Ναζαρηνός, or ὁ Ναζωραῖος. The phrase υἱὸς Δαυείδ is also added to show that He belongs to the house of David.

At Mt. 21:11 the people says: οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ προφήτης Ἰησοῦς ὁ ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲθ τῆς Γαλιλαίας; at Mk. 14:67 and par. (cf. Mt. 26:71) the maid says to Peter: καὶ σὺ μετὰ τοῦ Ναζαρηνοῦ ἦσθα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ; at Mk. 10:47 and par. the blind man says: ἀκούσας ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζαρηνός ἐστιν; at Mt. 27:37 Pilate causes to be written on the cross: οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων (ὁ Ναζωραῖος is added to Ἰησοῦς at Jn. 19:19); at Jn. 1:45 Philip tells Nathanael: εὑρήκαμεν Ἰησοῦν υἱὸν τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ τὸν ἀπὸ Ναζαρέτ; at Jn. 18:5,7 the guard seeks Ἰησοῦν τὸν Ναζωραῖον; at Lk. 24:19 Cleophas tells the stranger τὰ περὶ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Ναζαρηνοῦ; at Mk. 16:6 the angel says: Ἰησοῦν ζητεῖτε τὸν Ναζαρηνόν. Where the Evangelists tell us briefly what others think or say about Jesus, they do not give an addition to distinguish Him from others of the same name (Lk. 7:3; Mk. 5:27; Mt. 14:1; Mk. 5:20 and par.; cf. Lk. 6:11). He is most commonly addressed as διδάσκαλε, ῥαββεί, ἐπιστάτα, or κύριε, but we also find Ἰησοῦ Ναζαρηνέ at Mk. 1:24 and par. and υἱὲ Δαυεὶδ Ἰησοῦ at Mk. 10:47 f. (cf. Lk. 18:38). The penitent thief uses only His name at Lk. 23:42 and the lepers have Ἰησοῦ ἐπιστάτα at Lk. 17:13.

Of this Ἰησοῦς who was born under Herod the Great and crucified under Pontius Pilate, it is confessed by the early Church and the whole Christian world that He was raised again from the dead as the ἀρχηγὸς τῆς ζωῆς (Ac. 3:15), that He has been made the Messiah of His people and the Lord of the whole world, and that this Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ τῆς Γαλιλαίας is God’s only-begotten Son and the only Saviour of all men. Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, Ἰησοῦς ὁ κύριος, is the confession of Christianity, which sees in Him who ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος καὶ σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος the εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου (Phil. 2:7). There is no separation between an earthly body and a Christ who put on this body, as in Christian Gnosticism. Ἰησοῦς is ὁ κύριος, and not something apart from Him. Hence the Gospels, the missionary preaching of Acts and Paul (Gl. 3:1) present this Jesus of Nazareth and say that God has made this man the Lord and the Judge: ἐν ἀνδρὶ ᾧ ὥρισεν, Ac. 17:31 (D: ἐν ἀνδρὶ Ἰησοῦ).

What has been said throws light on the usage of the four Gospels and Acts. Where Mk. uses a designation—he usually speaks of Jesus in the third person—he normally has Ἰησοῦς. When he mentions Jesus for the first time in 1:9, he has the more precise Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ τῆς Γαλιλαίας. Mt. and Lk. follow Mk., except that Mt. uses the name much more frequently, e.g., to introduce stories or sayings, whereas Lk. often has ὁ κύριος (up to Lk. 22:61b only in the distinctive Lucan material). Only in the first sentence does Mk. add Χριστός to Ἰησοῦς (cf. also Mt. 1:1). Χριστός alone instead of the name is found only at Mk. 9:41 and Mt. 11:2, perhaps deliberately in the latter case. Jn. uses Ἰησοῦς more often than Mt., and sometimes κύριος.

In Acts the simple Ἰησοῦς is common, nor is this used merely in references to the life of Jesus (1:1, 14, 16) or in the sayings of non-Christians concerning Him (4:18; 5:40; 17:7, 18; 19:13, 15; 25:19; 26:9). It is by this name that He declares Himself to Saul (9:5; 22:8; 26:15). The angels also use it at the ascension (1:11). Stephen is supposed to have said that Jesus the Nazarene would destroy this place (6:14), and Stephen also sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God (7:55).

Nevertheless, Acts clearly proclaims that Jesus is the Christ, and the addition ὁ Ναζωραῖος is sometimes made in order to point plainly to the historical figure and to show what the Jews did to this Jesus in Jerusalem, 2:22, 32, 36; 3:13, 20; 5:30; 10:38; 13:23 and 33; 17:3; 18:5, 28; cf. also 4:10; 9:27. This is how Jesus is proclaimed in Ac., 8:35; 9:20; 18:25; 28:23. But we also find expressions like εὐαγγελίζεσθαι τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν, 11:20; 28:31 (+ Χριστός), or on Palestinian soil τὸν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, 5:42, or simply τὸν Χριστόν, 8:5, or περὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, 8:12, or in missionary preaching references to Ἰησοῦς Χριστός (Χριστός without art.), 9:34; 10:36; 16:18. For the simple Ἰησοῦς, cf. also 9:17. This all goes to show that in Acts the preaching of the first community and its messengers is to the effect that a specific bearer of this well-known name is the Lord, the Messiah. Where the reference is less to the content of the message, Ac. uses other phrases which derive from the usage of the community, e.g., sayings of the κύριος (11:16; 20:35); the word of the κύριος, 8:25; 12:24; 13:12, 48 f.; 15:35 f.; 19:10; to be converted to, or to believe in, the κύριος (κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός). In Ac. 19:4 the simple Ἰησοῦς naturally denotes this specific bearer of the name. Special reference should be made to Ac. 16:7: οὐκ εἴασεν αὐτοὺς τὸ πνεῦμα Ἰησοῦ.

If Acts, like the special Lucan material, illustrates the usage of the community, for which ὁ κύριος was a sufficient designation of Jesus and Ἰησοῦς Χριστός and ὁ κύριος (ἡμῶν) Ἰησοῦς Χριστός were fixed expressions, it is still astonishing that the simple Ἰησοῦς is so rare in the NT epistles. Half of the passages in which Paul uses the simple Ἰησοῦς are to be found in 1 Th. 4:14 and 2 C. 4:11–14. The substance of these passages makes it plain that Paul is thinking especially of the historical Jesus, as the simple Ἰησοῦς itself suggests. This is also true in Phil. 2:10: ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ, to the one who has passed through the lowliness of humanity and suffering God has granted that every knee should bow at this name of humility. Similarly the death and resurrection of Jesus are at issue in most of the other passages in which Paul has the simple Ἰησοῦς, 1 Th. 4:14a; Gl. 6:17; 2 C. 4:10 a and b, 11 a and b, 14b; R. 8:11a. Ἰησοῦς is also found at 2 C. 4:5; 11:4; R. 3:26; Eph. 4:21. The second of these passages reminds us of Acts. Ἰησοῦς also occurs in Hb. and Rev. in external expression of the fact that it is the one Jesus of Nazareth whose history is the basis of Christian faith, Hb. 2:9; 3:1; 6:20; 7:22; 10:19; 12:2, 24; Rev. 1:9b; 14:12; 17:6; 20:4; 22:16.

Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964- (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

The Meaning of Alma(h)

2010-12-21T07:03:00.000-08:00

George P. Estes in the 'The Gospel Guardian,' vol. 5, number 1, pg. 11 (May 7, 1953).

(Dear Brother Tant: I have sent several articles to you pointing out the modernism in the Revised Standard Version. I feel that modernism is one of our most deadly foes, and the RSV is still being bought and read by brethren. Some are still even trying to defend it. When the sectarians attacked baptism, we studied and restudied the word. We emphasized the meaning of "baptidzo." Now the attack is by liberals on the Hebrew word "alma" and other words. I feel that this should be carefully considered until the truth prevails. — G.P.E.)

—O—

The man who has made the most thorough and complete study of the word "alma" is Robert Dick Wilson. The following remarks are taken from his article in the Princeton Theological Review, 1926, pp. 308-316.
Mr. Wilson begins by giving the translation of the word "alma" in the passages of the O.T., in which it occurs as follows: Genesis 24:43 (virgin); Exodus 2:8 (maid); Pro. 30:19 (maid); Cant. 6:7 [sic] (virgin); Cant. 1:3 [sic] (virgins); 1 Chro. 15:20 (alamoth); Isaiah 7:14 (virgin); Psalm 46 — heading — (alamoth); Psalm 48:26 (damsels).

Under each verse he gives the translation of "alma" into other languages and versions: Jerome's Latin Vulgate (4th century A. D.); Coptic, Armenian, Peshitto (Syriac); the Targum; into Greek by Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion (2nd century A. D.); the Greek Septuagint; Arabic and others.

After giving this complete list of how noted Bible scholars translated the word, he gives the root meaning of "alma" which is "hide." Then two O.T. Hebrew words are given which are similar in meaning: "n'ara" (young woman, damsel) and "bethulah" (virgin, maid, maiden).

After a careful study of this material, Dr. Wilson comes to the following conclusion:

1. None of the ancient languages or versions gives any evidence to show that "alma" ever meant a young married woman.

2. There seems to be no doubt that "bethulah" is the specific and unambiguous word for virgin.

3. A "n'ara" may not have been a virgin. Otherwise it would scarcely have been necessary to define her five times by the word "bethulah" (virgin).

4. An "alma" must have been presumed to be a "virgin" since it is never defined by "bethulah."

5. Since the Septuagint version was made in the case of Genesis 280 years B. C. and in the case of Isaiah 200 years B. C., it is to be presumed that their rendering of "alma" by "parthenos" (virgin) in Genesis 24:48 and Isaiah 7:14 was in their minds a justifiable rendering. So far as we have any evidence, the citation of Isaiah 7:14 in Matthew 1:23 is thus justified by the Jewish interpretation up to the time when Matthew was written.

6. Since the Peshitto Syriac version of the Old Testament was probably made by Jews, their rendering of the word "alma" by "bethulah" in Isaiah 7:14 must have been considered proper even as late as the second century A. D.

7. Jerome, who studied Hebrew under Jewish rabbis of his time (about 400 A. D.), still thought it possible to render "alma" by "virgo" (virgin) in Genesis 24:43 and Isaiah 7:14.

8. Since Aquila, Theodotion and Symmachus were all probably renegades from Christianity, and Jewish proselytes, their rendering of "alma" in Isaiah 7:14 by "neanis" (young woman) instead of "parthenos" (virgin) is easily understood.

The rendering "ulemta" of the Targum to Isaiah 7:14 cannot possibly argue in favor of the meaning "young married woman" in view of the following facts:

a) "Alma" in the O.T. never has this meaning anywhere else.
b) "Ulemta" translates not merely "alma" but also "n'ara," "yolda," and "bethulah," none of which means young married woman.
c) "Ulemta" is used of Rebecca when she came to the well and met Eliezer; of Miriam when she was set to watch the infant Moses; of the 400 virgins of Jabesh Gilead (Judges 21:12); of Esther and the other virgins who were selected for the choice of Xerxes as wife.

10. The feminine noun is not found in the Koran; but the masculine is used of the as yet unborn Isaac and John the Baptist, and of Jesus the son of the virgin Mary, of Joseph in the pit and of two young men who are expressly said to have been killed before they reached the age of puberty.

11. All the versions of the Greek "parthenos" (virgin) — Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Harklensian, Syriac, and Arabic — render the word in both Isaiah 7:14 and Matt. 1:23 by the best word for "virgin" which they possess.

12. The evidence that Mary was a virgin does not after all depend on the meaning of the words "alma" and "parthenos" alone; for it is said, also, of Mary that "she had not known man." This phrase is used in the Old Testament of Rebecca "a virgin that had not known man" (Gen. 24:16); of Jephthah's daughter (Judges 11:39); and of the virgins of Jabesh Gilead (Judges 21:12).

Finally, two conclusions from the evidence seem clear: first, that "alma," so far as known, never meant "young married woman"; and secondly, the presumption in common law and usage was, and is, that every "alma" is virgin and virtuous, until and unless it shall be proven that she is not. If Isaiah 7:14 is a prediction of the conception and if the events recorded in Matt. 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38 are true, and the Holy Spirit really overshadowed the virgin Mary, all difficulties are cleared away. The great and only difficulty lies then in disbelief in predictive prophecy and in the almighty power of God; or in the desire to throw discredit upon the divine Sonship of Jesus.

In the third Sura of the Koran, Mohammed represents Mary as saying to the angel: "Lord, how can I have a son when man has not yet touched me?" And the angel said: "Thus God creates what He pleaseth; When He decrees a matter He only says, BE, and it is." Mohammed was a better Theist than many who profess to follow Christ today."

The above represents the conclusion of Dr. Robert Dick Wilson, one of the greatest linguistic and Biblical scholars of all time. To his fine thoughts I add the following: The RSV cannot be right in rendering "alma" by "young woman" in Isaiah 7:14; therefore their rendering of it so was a result of liberalistic and modernistic bias. Let not my brethren be deceived by the modernists and their apologists.

To The Fools Who Deny the Virgin Birth

2010-12-20T07:50:00.000-08:00

In their denials of the virgin birth the critics say that the Greek ‘parthenos,’ “virgin” or “maiden” is misleading and declare: “The Hebrew has no thought of a miraculous birth, for the term rendered maiden simply means an adult woman, still young enough to become a mother, and is by no means confined to virgins.” It is true that ‘almah‘ does not etymologically, like bethulah, denote a virgin but in general a young woman, as ‘elem‘ denotes a young man. They are like the German Jungfrau and Juengling. But this is only part of the story.

The LXX translated ‘almah’ ‘hey parthenos,’ “the virgin.” Zahn reports that since the time of Jerome it has been noted that in all the Old Testament passages where ‘almah‘ occurs it is always used for “virgin,” and that also Isa. 54:4 ‘alumim‘ coupled as it is with ‘almanuth‘ (widowhood), means only maidenhood. Moreover, the Hebrew, the LXX, and Matthew have the article.

The sign is not that a virgin, some young woman, shall conceive in a natural way, but “the virgin,” the specific virgin to whom also Micah 5:3 refers. “It is the virgin, whom the Spirit of prophecy reveals to the prophet, and who, although he cannot name her, stands before his soul as one chosen for extraordinary things. How exalted she appears to him is indicated by her giving the name to her son, and this the name Immanuel.”

Delitzsch (see his fine comment on this passage). The force of this comment is perceived when we compare Isa. 8:8; 9:5, 6; 11:1-10. No married woman conceiving in the ordinary manner, and no girl allowing herself to be seduced, could give birth to a son as great as the one Isaiah describes in these passages.

Isaiah’s sign was that the virgin would conceive and bear a son whom she would rightfully call Immanuel, namely the Immanuel described by Isaiah himself: to be born, Isa. 7:14, actually born, Isa. 9:6; in his glorious reign, Isa. 11. The fulfillment of this promised sign is the incarnation and virgin conception and birth of God’s own Son, who by this wondrous birth became “Immanuel,” “With us God.”

Matthew adds the Greek translation: ‘Meth’ heymown ho Theos,‘ not so much because his Jewish readers would not understand “Immanuel” but in order to have them all and any others dwell on the full significance of this name. The same angel told Mary that her virgin-born son would be called “the Son of God,” Luke 1:35. “He is God in bodily presentation, therefore a miracle in the form of a superhuman person. We would not dare to say this, because it transcends the Old Testament plane of knowledge, but the prophet himself says so, Isa. 9:6; 10:21; his statement is as clear as possible, we dare not darken it in the interest of a preconceived construction of history. The incarnation is, indeed, a veiled mystery in the Old Testament, but the veil is not so dense that it admits of no rays striking through. A ray of this kind, cast by the Spirit of prophecy into the spirit of the prophet, is this prophecy concerning Immanuel. But if the Messiah is Immanuel in te sense that, the prophet explicitly says, he is himself El (God), then his birth also must be a miraculous one. The prophet, indeed, does not say that “the virgin” who had not known a man would bear a sin without this, so that the son would be born, not out of the house of David, but as a gift of heaven into it; but this ‘virgin’ was and remained a riddle in the Old Testament, mightily stirring up the inquiry and search (1 Pet. 1:10-12) and awaiting a solution in historic fulfillment.” Delitzsch. This solution the New Testament records.

- from R.C.H. Lenski, ‘Interpretation of Matthew’

The Virgin Birth of Our Lord from Luther's Postil on Luke 2

2010-12-20T04:45:00.000-08:00

This Gospel is so clear that it requires very little explanation, but it should be well considered and taken deeply to heart; and no one will receive more benefit from it than those who, with a calm, quiet heart, banish everything else from their mind, and diligently look into it. It is just as the sun which is reflected in calm water and gives out vigorous warmth, but which can not be so readily seen nor can it give out such warmth in water that is in roaring and rapid motion.

Therefore, if you would be enlightened and warmed, if you would see the wonders of divine grace and have your heart aglow and enlightened, devout and joyful, go where you can silently meditate and lay hold of this picture deep in your heart, and you will see miracle upon miracle. But to give the common person a start and a motive to contemplate it, we will illustrate it in part, and afterwards enter into it more deeply.

First, behold how very ordinary and common things are to us that transpire on earth, and yet how high they are regarded in heaven. On earth it occurs in this wise: Here is a poor young woman, Mary of Nazareth, not highly esteemed, but of the humblest citizens of the village. No one is conscious of the great wonder she bears, she is silent, keeps her own counsel, and regards herself as the lowliest in the town. She starts out with her husband Joseph; very likely they had no servant, and he had to do the work of master and servant, and she that of mistress and maid. They were therefore obliged to leave their home unoccupied, or commend it to the care of others.

Now they evidently owned an ass, upon which Mary rode, although the Gospel does not mention it, and it is possible that she went on foot with Joseph. Imagine how she was despised at the inns and stopping places on the way, although worthy to ride in state in a chariot of gold. There were, no doubt, many wives and daughters of prominent men at that time, who lived in fine apartments and great splendor, while the mother of God takes a journey in mid-winter under most trying circumstances….

Is it not strange that the birth of Christ occurs in cold winter, in a strange land, and in such a poor and despicable manner?

Some argue as to how this birth took place, as if Jesus was born while Mary was praying and rejoicing, without any pain, and before she was conscious of it. While I do not altogether discard that pious supposition, it was evidently invented for the sake of simple minded people. But we must abide by the Gospel, that he was born of the virgin Mary. There is no deception here, for the Word clearly states that it was an actual birth.

It is well known what is meant by giving birth. Mary’s experience was not different from that of other women, so that of the birth of Christ was a real natural birth, Mary being his natural mother and he being her natural son. Therefore her body performed its functions of giving birth, which naturally belonged to it, except that she brought forth without sin, without shame, without pain, and without injury, just as she had conceived without sin. The curse of Eve did not come on her, where God said, “In pain thou shalt bring forth children;” otherwise it was with her in every particular as with every woman who gives birth to a child.

Grace does not interfere with nature and her work, but rather improves and promotes it. Likewise Mary, without doubt, also nourished the child with milk from her breast and not with strange milk, or in a manner different from that which nature provided. As we sing: ubere de caelo pleno, from her breast being filled by heaven, without injury or impurity. I mention this that we may be grounded in the faith and know that Jesus was a natural man in every respect just as we, the only difference being in his relation to sin and grace, he being without a sinful nature. In him and in his mother nature was pure in all the members and in all the operations of those members. No body or member of woman ever performed its natural function without sin, except that of this virgin; here for once God bestowed special honor upon nature and its operations. It is a great comfort to us that Jesus took upon himself our nature and flesh. Therefore we are not to take away from him or his mother any thing that is not in conflict with grace, for the text clearly says that she brought him forth, and the angels said, unto you he is born.

How could God have shown his goodness in a more sublime manner than by humbling himself to partake of flesh and blood, that he did not even disdain the natural privacy but honors nature most highly in that part where in Adam and Eve it was most miserably brought to shame? So that henceforth even that can be regarded godly, honest, and pure, which in all men is the most ungodly, shameful, and impure. These are real miracles of God, for in no way could he have given us stronger, more forcible and purer pictures of chastity than in this birth. When we look at this birth, and reflect upon how the sublime Majesty moves with great earnestness and inexpressible love and goodness upon the flesh and blood of this virgin, we see how here all evil lust and every evil thought is banished.

No woman can inspire such pure thoughts in a man as this virgin; nor can any man inspire such pure thought in a woman as this child. If in reflecting on this birth we recognize the work of God that is embodied in it, only chastity and purity spring from it.

But what happens in heaven concerning this birth? As much as it is despised on earth, so much and a thousand times more is it honored in heaven. If an angel from heaven came and praised you and your work, would you not regard it of greater value than all the praise and honor the world could give you, and for which you would be willing to bear the greatest humility and reproach? What exalted honor is that when all the angels in heaven can not restrain themselves from breaking out in rejoicing, so that even poor shepherds in the fields hear them preach, praise God, sing and pour out their joy without measure? Were not all joy and honor realized at Bethlehem, yes, all joy and honor experienced by all the kings and nobles on earth, to be regarded as only dross and abomination, of which no one likes to think, when compared with the joy and glory here displayed?

Behold how very richly God honors those who are despised of men, and that very gladly. Here you see that his eyes look into the depths of humility, as is written, “He sitteth above the cherubim” and looketh into the depths. Nor could the angels find princes or valiant men to whom to communicate the good news; but only unlearned laymen, the most humble people upon earth. Could they not have addressed the high priests, who it was supposed knew so much concerning God and the angels? No, God chose poor shepherds, who, though they were of low esteem in the sight of men, were in heaven regarded as worthy of such great grace and honor.

See how utterly God overthrows that which is lofty! And yet we rage and rant for nothing but this empty honor, as we had no honor to seek in heaven; we continually step out of God’s sight, so that He may not see us in the depths, into which he alone looks.

(from p 137 ff. of vol. 1 of Lenker’s eight volume translation of the Church Postil, 1905)

In the Beginning: Christ, the "Rosh" of Creation

2010-12-19T19:02:00.001-08:00

The opening statement of the Bible: Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," is probably the most famous line ever written. But besides famous, it is also perhaps the most profound statement ever made.

The name of the letter beth, (bayit 241), means house in the sense of a building, but also household; wife and children. This word also serves to mean House Of The Lord, or Temple. As preposition the letter means 'in'. As such it is the first letter of the Bible.

'In The Beginning God Created The Heavens And The Earth' argues God's nature as Creator, proves God's ownership of creation, and makes the astounding, utterly extraordinary confession of an Author who seeks to address that which he has written. The opening line of Genesis constitutes a philosophical storm such as there never was or will be again. It states core identities. It explains all essence. And it contains the greatest promise ever made, that God is intimate and seeks intimacy.

Not a single line in all of literature is so rich in meaning, so connected with everything else as this famous phrase, and just like the way Jesus compressed the entire Law and the Prophets with "love the Lord with all your heart and mind, and your neighbor like yourself," so may the opening line of Genesis be compressed into its initial letter, the letter beth, meaning 'house' or 'household' (as in Beth-lehem; house of bread). From this singular idea of a House (consisting of God and His Bride), the entire Bible Big-Bangs forward, to meet its purpose in Christ and the Body of Christ:

...you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house...- 1 Peter 2:5

The first word of the Bible is (reshit 2097e), first, beginning, best. The meaning of 'best' allows us an insight of how the Hebrews viewed a collection of things. That what came first may be called but just as well whatever comes out on top; that which is best, and leading in the sense of quality rather than chronology. This sheds light on the first line of the Bible, because not only does it state that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning of everything, but also that He created everything in its finest moment!

The word occurs at the following locations:

The first word of the Bible is an extension of the word (rosh 2097), which denotes pretty much anything that comes first: head, top, upper part, chief, total, sum. And by the usage of 'sum' we learn that a not simply denotes whatever comes first or whatever is highest, but rather that which represents whatever follows. The word contains the entire set of what it is the chief of.

This is highly remarkable because as good as every usage of "rosh" is in one form or another when applied to Christ:

Psalm 118:22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone (by Jesus applied to Himself in Mat 21:42).

Eph 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been put upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Eph 5:23 Christ [...] is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

1 Cor 15:20, 23 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who are asleep.

Isaiah and others speak of the Mountain of the Lord which will exist above and beyond any other mountain. The obvious summit of this Mountain is Jesus Christ.

Another remarkable occurrence of is in Psalm 119:160, where it says, "The 'rosh' of Thy Word is truth."

All things considered it becomes even more profound when Paul writes,

And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created [...]; all things have been created by (or rather through) Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. - Col 1:15-18 (abridged)

- excerpted from Abarim Publications, 'Bible Commentary'

"Davar" (Part 1) - Always from "speech"; identical to "logos".

2010-12-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

There are two good reasons to start the discussion about the critical Hebrew term "davar" immediately after the holiday of Shavuot.
The first is obvious. According to rabbinic tradition, this holiday commemorates the day when God gave the Ten Commandments. These commandments, in Hebrew, are called the ten "dvarim" (using the plural form fordavar, as it appears in Deuteronomy 4:12 and Exodus 34:28). So each so-called "commandment" is really a single "davar".

The second reason continues last week's post about the Book of Ruth, due to a very interesting passage. Naomi, having received Ruth's report about her night-time encounter with her husband-to-be, says:

"Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the davar will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have concluded the davar this day." (Ruth 3:18)

What is the connection between the two? How does the judiciary settlement that Boaz has to reach with the competing kinsman (regarding the future of Ruth and of Naomi's inheritance) have to do with the ten "commandments"?

The answer is that the Hebrew term (דבר), which relates directly to the verb "to talk" -- or to PROCLAIM (לדבר) -- is equivalent to the Greek notion of 'logos', with its precise yet varied meanings: a formalized thought, account, report, word, speech, argument, story, etc.

In the two cases above, both in the ten commandments and in the judiciary case of Boaz, the biblical text is referring to a decree: to a conclusive "statement." It's about THE WORD coming out.

When God proclaims, in the so-called first commandment: "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt," he is not commanding any action, but rather making an authoritative pronouncement. Likewise, Naomi tells Ruth about the impending court of elders:

"Sit still, my daughter, until you know which way the pronouncement will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have concluded the pronouncement this day."

You may choose to replace "pronouncement" with "account" or anothe synonym. But the point remains that at the end of the day the talked-of issue reaches a conclusion, and that it has a wrapped-up "telling"of it. For a primarily oral-lore culture, a true davar is the formulated testament that can then be passed on.

In the next posts we will see how davar should ALWAYS be read as something to do with SPEECH (using varying nuances of "statement", "decree", "message", "tale/story" etc.), and NEVER as a "thing" (a sadly common misconception), and why the Greek Septuagint is perfectly correct in translating davar as logos. Many verses will, in this manner, gain bright new clarity.

"Sit still, my daughter, until you know which way the logos will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have concluded the logos this day."

- from Ethan Dor-Shav, The Hebrew Wisdom Dictionary Blog

excerpt from 'Against the Heavenly Prophets' (1525)

2010-12-18T07:10:00.000-08:00

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Since the pope does not allow for such freedom of action, but curbs it with his teaching and commandment, he usurps the office of God and sets himself arrogantly in God’s place, as St. Paul has forewarned concerning him [II Thess. 2:4]. He makes sin where God would have no sin, and thereby kills souls and binds consciences. Since Dr. Karlstadt does not allow for freedom to refrain from doing what need not be done, but compels with prohibitions and teaching, saying one must not elevate the host, etc., he also usurps the office of God and sets himself in his place. He makes sin where there neither can nor should be any sin. Thus he kills souls on this side, as does the pope on the other side, and both of them, like murderers of souls, destroy Christian liberty.

We however take the middle course and say: There is to be neither commanding nor forbidding, neither to the right nor to the left. We are neither papistic nor Karlstadtian, but free and Christian, in that we elevate or do not elevate the sacrament, how, where, when, as long as it pleases us, as God has given us the liberty to do. Just as we are free to remain outside of marriage or to enter into marriage, to eat meat or not, to wear the chasuble or not, to have the cowl and tonsure or not. In this respect we are lords and will put up with no commandment, teaching, or prohibition. We have also done both here in Wittenberg. For in the cloister we observed mass without chasuble, without elevation, in the most plain and simple way which Karlstadt extols [as following] Christ’s example. On the other hand, in the parish church we still have the chasuble, alb, altar, and elevate [the host] as long as it pleases us.

Therefore my factious spirit ought not fight against us Wittenbergers in this manner: “They elevate the sacrament. Therefore they sin against God.” But this might be said, “They teach and command that one must elevate the sacrament lest there be mortal sin. Therefore they sin against God.” For so the papists do and teach. We however do not so teach, and yet permit freedom to do this as long as it pleases us. The doing does no harm, the teaching, however, is the very devil. On the other hand, in the cloister we refrain from it, but we do not so teach as Dr. Karlstadt does The refraining does no harm, the teaching, however, is the very devil. From this you may gather, who are “the cousins of the Antichrist,” we or Dr. Karlstadt. We do as the papists, but we do not tolerate their teaching, commandment, and constraint. We refrain from doing like the Karlstadtians, but we do not tolerate the prohibition. Thus the pope and Dr. Karlstadt are true cousins in teaching, for they both teach, one the doing, the other the refraining. We, however, teach neither, and do both.

Luther, M. <1999, c1958>. Vol. 40: Luther's works, vol. 40 : Church and Ministry II . Luther's Works . Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

The Book That Makes All Clever People Fools

2010-12-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

"I beg and admonish faithfully all devout Christians that they not be offended or stumble over the simple stories related in the Bible, nor doubt them. However poor they may appear, they are certainly the words, history, and judgments of the high divine Majesty, Power, and Wisdom. For this is the book which makes all wise and clever people fools, and can only be understood by simple people, as Christ says . Therefore let go your own thoughts and feelings and esteem this book as the best and purest treasure, as a mine full of great wealth, which can never be exhausted or sufficiently excavated. thus you will find the divine wisdom which God presents in the Bible in a manner so simple that it damps the pride of clever people and brings it to nothing. In this book you find the swaddling clothes and the manger in which Christ lies, and to which the angel directs the shepherds. Those swaddling clothes are shabby and poor, yet precious is the treasure wrapped in them, for it is Christ." - Martin Luther

The Great "O Antiphons"

2010-12-17T06:59:00.000-08:00

The great "O Antiphons" are often used in the Advent services. They come from the names or titles given to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, in many Old Testament prophecies.

"O Wisdom" describes Jesus prophetically as the personification of Wisdom – the Wisdom which proceeds from God's mouth. During His ministry Jesus preached and taught the Wisdom of God's Word. Paul refers to Christ as the “Wisdom and Power of God” who saves sinners from the foolishness of their sins. In “O Wisdom” we pray that Christ would come and teach us the wisdom of His Word. (Wisdom: Prov. 8:1-9:12; I Cor. 1:18-31)

“O Adonai” describes Jesus as the Lord and Ruler of Israel, the one and only True God ("I AM"), who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and gave him the Law on Mt. Sinai. Jesus is “Adonai” our Lord, God, and Savior. In “O Adonai” we pray that Christ will come with power to redeem us from the condemnation of the Law. [I AM: Exodus 3:13-15; John 8:58; 18:5-8]

"O Root of Jesse" describes Jesus the promised Messiah as the Descendant of Jesse who would stand as the Ensign and Ruler of the world. Earthly kings will stand silent before Him. In “O Root of Jesse” we pray that Jesus will deliver us from our earthly and spiritual enemies. This Jesus did by His suffering, death, and resurrection. (Descendant/Root of Jesse: Isaiah 11:1-12; Acts 13:22-23; Ruler: II Samuel 7:12-16; Luke 1:30-33; Philippians 2:9-11)

"O Key of David" describes Jesus as a Key and a King (symbolized by the scepter) who opens and closes heaven's doors. In “O Key of David” we pray that Jesus will rescue those imprisoned in spiritual darkness and in death's shadow caused by sin and unbelief. (Key: Isaiah 22:22-25; Revelation 3:7-8; Scepter/King: Genesis 49:10; Numbers 24:17; Psalm 45:1-8; Matthew 2:1-12; Hebrews 1:8-9; Rescue from darkness: Isaiah 9:1-2; Matthew 4:12-16)

"O Dayspring" describes Jesus the Messiah as the Dayspring and Light of the world who enlightens those sitting in the gross spiritual darkness of sin and unbelief. The "Dayspring" title comes from the Greek word "anatole". This Greek word was used to translate the Hebrew word "nezer" (“nzr”) which means "branch" in Jer. 23:5; Zech. 3:8, 6:12. This Hebrew word is the root of the name Nazareth. In “O Dayspring” we pray that Jesus will enlighten sinners with His Light and the Light of His Word and salvation. (Branch: Jer. 23:5-6; Zech. 3:8 & 6:12; Matt. 2:23; John 19:19; Dayspring: Isaiah 9:2; 58:8-10; Luke 1:78-79; 2 Peter 1:19. Light: Psalm 27:1; 119:105; Isaiah 2:5; 42:6-7; 60:1-3; John 1:1-9; 8:12; 9:5; and 2 Cor. 4:3-6)

"O King" describes Jesus as the desired King and Ruler the nations long for, and the Cornerstone who unites all people as one in His Kingdom the Church. In “O King” we, His created beings, pray for salvation. (King: Isaiah 43:13-15; Matthew 21:1-11; 27:37; Desired One: Haggai 2:5-7 [best translated as the "Desire of all nations."]; Luke 2:22-39; 10:24; John 12:20-21; Cornerstone: Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 21:42; Ephesians 2:20)

"O Emmanuel" describes the coming Messiah as Emmanuel, God with us. He is the Son of God who will be born of a virgin. In “O Emmanuel” we pray to Christ as the anointed Savior who saves us from our sins. (Emmanuel: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Anointing: Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:18-21) These "O Antiphons" are the basis for the hymn, "Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel," Hymn #31 in Lutheran Worship; #357 in Lutheran Service Book. The “O Antiphons” are listed on pages 288-289 in LW; and next to hymn #357 in LSB.

I'M PREPARING FOR WHAT? THE LITURGICAL SEASON OF ADVENT

Driving a car in a race requires hours and days of preparation. Many jobs require an education and on-the-job training so that one might be prepared to work properly. So also the great festivals of the Christian Church Year have periods of preparation which precede them.

Advent is the first season of the Christian Church Year. The First Sunday in Advent is the first day of the new Christian Church Year. Advent begins the Christian Liturgical Calendar and is the season of preparation for the Christian celebration of the Birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Advent emphasizes Jesus' comings.

Advent's first emphasis is on CHRIST'S COMING IN THE FLESH - His first coming in His Incarnation and birth in the manger in Bethlehem. Jesus came as the Prince of Peace to effect spiritual peace between our holy God and sinful human beings like ourselves. Jesus is the Davidic King promised in the OT. (1 Chronicles 17:11-14; Luke 1:26-56; 2:1-20; Matt. 2:1-6) As we anticipate Jesus' birth, we are assured that God is faithful to His Word.

Advent's second emphasis is on CHRIST'S COMING TO US IN GRACE. Christ came to most of us first in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. There faith was planted in our hearts. There we were clothed in Christ's righteousness which covered the sinful rags of our sins. As we daily live in our Baptism in contrition and repentance, Christ continues to come and justify us. Christ also comes to us in the preaching and teaching of the Word, and in the administration of the Lord's Supper. Through these Means of Grace we are pardoned of our sins, strengthened in our faith, enabled to walk in godly ways, and prepared for the Day of Judgment. (Matt. 26:26-28; 28:18-20; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Col. 2:9-15; II Timothy 3:14-17; I Peter 3:17-22)

Advent's third emphasis is on CHRIST COMING IN GLORY. At His Second Coming Jesus will appear to all the world as the King of kings and Lord of lords. (Rev. 19:16) On that Last Day Jesus will judge the living and the dead. Those with faith in Christ will be taken to heaven to dwell in bliss and joy eternally. Those without faith will be cast into hell where there will be pain, suffering, weeping, wailing, and the gnashing of teeth for eternity. (Matthew 25:31-46; I Thessalonians 4:13-18)

These three advents or comings of Jesus set the theme for the season of Advent.– a time of longing for the coming of the King of kings – and are evident in the Scripture readings chosen for the Advent services. During Advent we look back to the manger, at Christ's coming to us in Word and Sacrament, and forward to His coming on the Last Day as our King and Judge.

During the four weeks of Advent, we are encouraged to live in penitential preparation for celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The penitential tone of Advent reminds us that Christ's birth was made necessary by our sin. God's love for lost sinners moved Christ to come and be born in that Bethlehem manger so that by His sinless, life, death, and resurrection He would redeem us from our sins. The traditional liturgical color for Advent is purple, the color of kings, pointing the church to the fact that that Christ is the promised Messianic Davidic King would come to redeem lost sinners. Purple is also the color denoting penitence for sin. In recent years blue has been used by some as Advent's color to denote the eternal glories of heaven given us by Christ our King.

Advent customs include special mid-week services. Other popular customs include the use of Advent wreaths in Christian homes and churches. The traditional Advent wreath contains 5 candles - 3 purple candles, 1 pink one, and 1 candle in the middle. Each week during Advent another candle in the wreath is lighted. This gradual brightening of the wreath symbolizes the fact that the Church will soon again celebrate the birth of Christ the Messianic King, who is the Light of the world. (John 1:9 & 8:12) The pink candle was traditionally lighted on the Third Sunday in Advent, for pink is a color denoting rejoicing. The Third Sunday in Advent was traditionally the Sunday when the work of John the Baptist was emphasized. Why rejoice when John appears? Because if John the Baptist, the Messiah's forerunner is here, the Messiah cannot be far behind!

The great "O Antiphons" (Lutheran Worship - LW, pp. 288-289; Lutheran Service Book – LSB, Hymn #357) are generally used during the Advent season. These “O Antiphons” proclaim the names and titles given the coming Messiah in Old Testament prophecy. They are also prayers God's people pray seeking instruction in wisdom, redemption and deliverance from sin, rescue from the darkness of sin and death, and eternal salvation. The 7 "O Antiphons" are the basis for the Advent hymn "Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel." (LW #31 – LSB #357)

Rev. Armand J. Boehme – Nov. 28, 2010

Comments on Psalm 22 from Martin Luther

2010-12-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

Preface. This is a kind of gem among the Psalms, and is peculiarly excellent and remarkable. It contains those deep, sublime, and heavy sufferings of Christ, when agonising in the midst of the terrors and pangs of divine wrath and death, which surpass all human thought and comprehension. I know not whether any Psalm throughout the whole book contains matter more weighty, or from which the hearts of the godly can so truly perceive those sighs and groans, inexpressible by man, which their Lord and Head, Jesus Christ, uttered when conflicting for us in the midst of death, and in the midst of the pains and terrors of hell. Wherefore this Psalm ought to be most highly prized by all who have any acquaintance with temptations of faith and spiritual conflicts.

Verse 1. That there is something of a singular force, meaning, and feeling in these words is manifest from this—the evangelists have studiously given us this verse in the very words of the Hebrew, in order to show their emphatic force. And moreover I do not remember any one other place in the Scriptures where we have this repetition, ELI, ELI.

Verses 9, 10. Here the tribulation begins to grow lighter, and hope inclines towards victory; a support, though small, and sought out with deep anxiety, is now found. For after he had felt that he had suffered without any parallel or example, so that the wonderful works of God as displayed toward the fathers afforded him no help, he comes to the wonderful works of God toward himself, and in these he finds the goodwill of God towards him, and which was displayed towards him alone in so singular a way.

Verse 20. "My darling" had better be rendered "my lonely, or solitary one." For he wishes to say that his soul was lonely and forsaken by all, and that there was no one who sought after him as a friend, or cared for him, or comforted him: as we have it, Psalm 142:4, "Refuge failed me; no one cared for my soul; I looked on my right hand, but there was no one who would know me;" that is, solitude is of itself a certain cross, and especially so in such great torments, in which it is most grievous to be immersed without an example and without a companion. And yet, in such a state, everyone of us must be, in some suffering or other, and especially in that of death; and we must be brought to cry out with Psalm 25:16, "Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and afflicted."

Verse 24. "For he hath not despised nor abhorred the prayer of the poor, neither hath he hid his face from me; but when I cried unto him, he heard me." Let him, therefore, that desires to be of the seed of Israel, and to rejoice in the grace of the gospel, become poor, for this is a fixed truth, our God is one that has respect unto the poor! And observe the fulness and diligence of the prophet. He was not content with having said "will not despise," but adds, "and will not abhor;" and, again, "will not turn away his face;" and again, "will hear." And then he adds himself as an example, saying, "When I cried," as our translation has it. As if he had said, "Behold ye, and learn by my example, who have been made the most vile of all men, and numbered among the wicked; when I was despised, cast out, rejected, behold! I was held in the highest esteem, and taken up, and heard. Let not this state of things, therefore, after this, my encouraging example, frighten you; the gospel requires a man to be such a character before it will save him. These things, I say, because our weakness requires so much exhortation, that it might not dread being humbled, nor despair when humbled, and thus might, after the bearing of the cross, receive the salvation.

Verse 31. "A people that shall be born." What is this? What people is there that is not born? According to my apprehensions I think this is said for this reason—because the people of other kings are formed by laws, by customs, and by manners; by which, however, you can never move a man to true righteousness: it is only a fable of righteousness, and a mere theatrical scene or representation. For even the law of Moses could form the people of the Jews unto nothing but unto hypocrisy. But the people of this King are not formed by laws to make up an external appearance, but they are begotten by water and by the Spirit unto a new creature of truth.

Athanasius Against the World!

2010-12-15T04:27:00.000-08:00

C. S. Lewis says of Athanasius' stand: "He stood for the Trinitarian doctrine, 'whole and undefiled,' when it looked as if all the civilized world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius-into one of those 'sensible' synthetic religion's which are so strongly recommended today and which, then as now, included among their devotees these many highly cultivated clergymen. It is his glory that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, as all times do, have moved away" [C. S. Lewis, "Introduction," St. Athanasius on the Incarnation, rev. ed. (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 1953), 9.] No wonder then, that his epitaph should be Athanasius Contra Mundum: Athanasius against the world!

"We also, by God's grace, briefly indicated that the Word of the Father is Himself divine, that all things that are of their being to His will and power, and that it is through Him that the good Father gives order to creation, by Him that all things are moved, and through Him that they received their being....We must take a step further in the faith of our holy religion, and consider also the Word's becoming Man and his divine Appearing in our midst. That mystery the Jews traduce, the Greeks deride, but we adore; and your own love and devotion to the Word also will be greater, because in his manhood He seems so little worth. For it is a fact that the more unbelievers pour scorn on Him, so much the more does He make His Godhead evident. The things which they, as men, rule out as impossible, He plainly shows to be possible; that which they deride as unfitting, His goodness makes most fit; and things which these wiseacres laugh at as 'human' He by His inherent might declares divine. Thus by what seems His utter poverty and weakness on the cross He overturns the pomp and parade of idols, and in a quiet and hidden way wins over the mockers and unbelievers to recognize him as God" - Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word of God, 1

These excerpt s are taken from a post by R. Scott Murray at: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Memorial-Moment--Athanasius-Contra-Mundum.html?soid=1101459756774&aid=jqUzMnAugSo

Readings in the Theology of the Cross

2010-12-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

I came across this website (http://dawningrealm.org/theology/) in my surfing this evening, and found some excellent references regarding Theologia Crucis. Enjoy!

He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed —Isaiah

Come in poverty and meanness,
Come defiled, without, within;
From infection and uncleanness,
From the leprosy of sin,
Wash your robes and make them white;
Ye shall walk with God in light —The Lutheran Hymnal 149:2

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted —The Friend of Sinners

The law of God, the most salutary doctrine of life, cannot advance man on his way to righteousness, but rather hinders him... Arrogance cannot be avoided or true hope be present unless the judgment of condemnation is feared in every work —Martin Luther, Heidelberg Disputation

The theologian of glory observes the world, the works of creation. With his intellect he perceives behind these the visible things of God, His power, wisdom, and generosity. But God remains invisible to him. The theologian of the cross looks to the Crucified One. Here there is nothing great or beautiful or exalted as in the splendid works of creation. Here there is humiliation, shame, weakness, suffering, and agonizing death... [That] "God can be found only in suffering and the cross"... is a bedrock statement of Luther's theology and that of the Lutheran Church. Theology is theology of the cross, nothing else. A theology that would be something else is a false theology... Measured by everything the world calls wisdom, as Paul already saw, the word of the cross is the greatest foolishness, the most ridiculous doctrine that can confront a philosopher. That the death of one man should be the salvation of all, that this death on Golgotha should be this atoning sacrifice for all the sins of the world, that the suffering of an innocent one should turn away the wrath of God—these are assertions that fly in the face of every ethical and religious notion of man as he is by nature... God Himself has sent us into the hard school of the cross. There, on the battlefields, in the prison camps, under the hail of bombs, and among the shattered sick and wounded, there the theology of the cross may be learned "by dying"... To those whose illusions about the world and about man, and the happiness built on these, have been shattered, the message of the cross may come as profoundly good news —Hermann Sasse, "The Theology of the Cross: Theologia Crucis," in We Confess Jesus Christ, Concordia Publishing House, pp. 47-48, 50, 52.

Messiah - What's In A Word?

2010-12-14T07:03:00.000-08:00

The word Messiah, like its Greek counterpart Christ is not really a name but an appellation or a title. It denotes a function within the theocratic structure of Israel.

Our name Messiah is identical to the noun and adjective  (mashiah 1255c), meaning anointed one, and comes from the Hebrew verb  (mashah 1255), meaning to anoint or even more generally: to spread a liquid. In Jeremiah 22:14 the prophet speaks of "painting" a house bright red. In Isaiah 21:5 shields are "oiled." In Exodus 29:2 ritualistic unleavened cakes are "oiled".

This verb is employed where attention needs to be drawn; it does not simply denote a physical act but much rather a marking, a setting apart. It's no surprise therefore that the most common usage of this verb entails the ritual of "anointing" someone in office, and only the offices that had no earthly superior: the king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:3), a prophet (1 Kings 19:16, Isaiah 61:1) or a High Priest (Exodus 28:41). In that sense the name Messiah means much rather Inaugurated or even Highest Earthly Rank.

One obvious derivation of this verb is  (missha 1255a), meaning anointing oil. This very special oil was manufactured according to a precise recipe (Exodus 30:22-25), and misuse or even duplication of it was strictly forbidden (30:21-33). Whoever could call himself  (mashiah) in Israel had had his head anointed with this highly guarded oil.

A much more frequently used word for oil in the Bible is the Hebrew noun  (shemen 2410c), which generally denotes olive oil, and which comes from the verb  (shamen 2410), meaning to become fat. Although these words are also sometimes used in a ritualistic sense, they are much more commonly used for everyday practices, such as cooking or wound tending.

Ergo: the word  denotes the "slippery stuff" and the word  denotes the "marking stuff."

The verb  (mashah 1255) yields a few other derivations which shed more light on the breadth of this verb's meaning:

• The noun  (mossha 1255b), means (consecrated) portion. It denotes a part of the peace offering that Israel was supposed to offer to God, consisting of an animal breast and thigh and its surrounding fat. The fat would go on the altar, but the breast and thigh would be "set apart" for Aaron and his sons (Leviticus 7:35).

• The noun  (mimshah 1255d), which meaning is debated. HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament notes that the meaning of this word is uncertain but proposes expansion, probably after the core meaning of the verb. The BDB Theological Dictionary simply says dubious, and submits that this word only occurs in Ezekiel 28:14, in relation to a certain cherub. This passage is strongly debated because the author says it's about the king of Tyre, but it looks a lot like it's about satan. BDB translates these words with "cherub of expansion." The New American Standard Bible and the New International version simply read "anointed cherub."

The noun and adjective  (mashiah 1255c), meaning anointed, occurs about forty times in the Bible, and denotes almost exclusively the king of Israel. HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament notes that , "The Psalm literature especially regards mashiah as God's agent or vice-regent... but from the New Testament we learn that the meaning of mashiah in Psalm 2:2 can not be limited to a king about to be enthroned, but is a reference to the unique vice-regent Jesus Christ (Acts 13:32, Hebrews 1:5, 5:5).