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Category Archives: 1 Corinthians

Evidence for Christ’s Deity: His Teaching and the Resurrection

27 Mar

When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven! And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Matthew 16:13-18

Who was Jesus? In Matthew 16:13-18, when Jesus asked the disciples who people said he was, they gave various answers: He was a prophet, John the Baptist, the second coming of Elijah. Essentially, the answer people came up with was that Jesus was a righteous man or a good prophet.

But, when Peter was asked about Jesus’ identity, he replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Now we should understand that this was a very controversial claim, one which ultimately led to Christ’s execution. Consider how the Jews responded to Christ’s claim of God being his Father in John 5:17-18:

So he told them, “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.” For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.

Jesus claimed to be equal with God, which was blasphemous to Jews. Likewise, in John 10:30, he claimed that he and the Father were one. His followers taught this also. In John 1:1-3, John said: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

The “Word” was John’s favorite name for Jesus. Jesus was the very communication of God. He was with God in the beginning and was God. He created the earth. Likewise, in 2 Peter 1:1, Peter called Jesus “our God and Savior.” This is what separates Christ from many other founders of religions such as Buddha and Muhammad; he claimed to be God and his followers taught the same.

Who was Jesus? Though Jesus taught that he was the Son of God and died because of it and his disciples taught the same and were persecuted for it, most today would not answer the question the way they did. Like the early Jews, they would say Jesus was a good man, a wise teacher, or a prophet but not God. For example, a secular book published by Cambridge Press in 2013 called Who’s Bigger? ranked Jesus as the most significant figure in all of human history by using quantitative analysis.[1]

Likewise, the Koran calls Jesus “the greatest above all in this world and in the world to come” (Imran v. 45) and describes him as “holy”—meaning without sin (Sura 19:19). However, when considering these high praises written about Jesus, both fall short of saying what Jesus and his followers said—that Jesus was God.

In this study, we will answer the question, “Was Jesus God?” We will do this by considering several evidences that point to his deity.

Jesus’ Teachings as Evidence of His Deity

As mentioned, the most commonly accepted view of Jesus is that he was simply a good man, moral teacher, or prophet from God. Something we must then ask: “Are these common conclusions about who Jesus was really feasible, considering all that Jesus said and taught?” Let’s reflect on a few controversial statements Jesus said:

1. Jesus’ Claim of Resurrecting Himself

Hypothetically, let’s say that during dinner time at a restaurant, a person stood on a table and started publicly declaring, “Shoot me! Shoot me! And, in three days I will raise myself from the dead!”  What would everybody think? They would probably question, “Is this guy OK? Did he forget his medications?” People would think the man was crazy, immediately call 911, and try to get him help.

However, that scenario is very similar to something Christ did while alive. In John 2:19, he said to a crowd, “Destroy this temple [referring to his body] and in three days I will raise it up again.” When considering Christ’s words, it would be illogical to call Jesus a good man, or wise, moral teacher. Good, moral people don’t go around encouraging people to kill them and declaring they will resurrect themselves.

2. Jesus’ Claim of Forgiving Sins

In addition, consider another illustration about the same hypothetical man. Outside of the downtown courtroom, this man is now claiming to forgive people who have been charged with crimes. As robbers, prostitutes, and murderers are escorted to jail, the man continually says to them, “I forgive you.” This would be fine if he had a personal relationship with these criminals and they had harmed him in some way, but the man doesn’t know these people and hasn’t been harmed by them. Only a person hurt by another can forgive his or her sins. Again, this would be strange.

However, this again mirrors something that Christ did. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus forgave the sins of a paralytic, which angered the religious leaders who were watching. Mark 2:5-7 details this:

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the experts in the law were sitting there, turning these things over in their minds: “Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

As mentioned, the religious leaders were baffled by Christ’s words and considered it blasphemy. Who can forgive sins but God?

Most of us would find a person professing to forgive our sins whom we have not harmed very strange. Again, this is exactly what Christ did. Is it really possible that Christ could be a great moral teacher and say ridiculous things like this?

3. Jesus’ Claim of Judging the World

In addition to the previous scenarios, this hypothetical man is now standing at a major intersection and declaring to all who pass by that he is going to judge the world—separating people like a shepherd separates sheep and goats. The sheep will go to heaven and the goats to hell. Again, wouldn’t this seem strange and possibly scary? To make this even worse, this man claimed to be the Son of God and that only those who follow him are sheep who will go to heaven. Because of his teaching, many left their friends, families, and careers to follow this man.

These are all things that Christ taught and did (Matt 25:31-46, John 14:6). Is it really reasonable to accept Christ as a good man, moral teacher, or prophet from God considering his teachings? This is what C.S Lewis, a former professor at Cambridge University, said in his book Mere Christianity:

I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.  That is one thing we must not say.  A man who was merely a man and said the sort of thing Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.  He would either be a lunatic… or else he would be the Devil of Hell.  You must make your choice.  Either this man was and is the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. … You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.

It is impossible to consider what Christ said and did and yet take the common view that he was a good man, moral teacher, or prophet from God. He is either God, like he said, or he was a liar, lunatic, or demon. There is no middle ground.

What Jesus claimed and taught is an evidence for his deity. By itself, it is not very convincing, but it is an important evidence, especially for those who reject Christ’s claim of deity and yet accept him as either a good man, moral teacher, or prophet from God. What Christ taught and did doesn’t leave those as reasonable options.

What does the Bible say about resurrection?

What we know for certain is that the Bible says everyone who has lived will live again, and there are only two types of resurrection, one for believers and one for unbelievers. The only variable in all this is the type of resurrection we will participate in. Jesus said we will either rise to live, or rise to be condemned, and it will all come down to what we believe about Him.

What Does Resurrection Mean?

Growing up in church, we hear about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Do we ever think about how if Jesus simply died, we would not have Christianity today? The resurrection is everything to our faith. The death of Jesus was the necessary sacrifice for our sins, but the resurrection was the victory. Today we are going to study what this key word, resurrection, means.

When we think about resurrecting something, we are bringing back to life. Ephesians 2:1 tells us that we were once dead in our sins, but then Ephesians 2:4-5 goes on to say, “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!”

Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world, with perfect bodies, and there was no sin. When they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they sinned and death was the consequence. Our sins lead to death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ. Jesus had to resurrect Himself; He needed to defeat death for us so we could be brought back and restored to the life God intended for us. Sin separates, but Jesus resurrects.

Anastasis is the word for resurrection in the Greek. Strong’s Concordance says that Anastasia is “a standing up, i.e., a resurrection, a raising up, rising.” Helps Word Study shares, “Christ’s physical resurrection is the foundation of Christianity, which also guarantees the future resurrection of all believers (see Jn 6:39,40,44).”

Resurrection Seen in the Old Testament

Although resurrection is mostly thought to be in the New Testament, the concept is intertwined throughout the entire Bible.

James Street from Masters Seminary shares “Job himself in Job 14:14 says, ‘If a man dies, will he live again?’” He shares Job 19:26, which says, “Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God.” Street explains, “Job does not know how God is going to do it, but he believes in his heart that somehow God will raise him from the dead.” Street brings up the point that Psalm 91:16 references David’s belief in salvation and that in Psalms 49:15 and 103:4 he believers resurrection would come through the Redeemer.

Of all people, Hosea knew what it was like to show forgiveness and reconciliation. He was called by God to marry a prostitute named Gomer who was continuously unfaithful to him, however he remained faithful and pursued her. This was God’s way of showing His relationship and loyalty to us as humanity. Hosea 6:2 says, “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him.”

One of the most popular instances of Jesus’ foreshadowing is seen in the life of Abraham and Isaac. In Genesis 22, God tests Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his one and only son of the covenant. Abraham believed that God would make a way, but was obedient to the point right before he struck his son dead on the altar. Jewish tradition holds that Isaac about around 25 years old. This meant that he was willing to allow His older father to slay him as a sacrifice for the Lord.

I cannot even imagine the pain and sorrow both father and son were going through. Thankfully, God stopped Abraham and provided a ram caught by the horns to be the sacrifice instead of Isaac. This moment of rescue represents the rescue that we have because of Jesus. This scenario did not play out the same way when God the Father sacrificed Jesus the Son on behalf of our sins. God gives us a glimpse into the pain and difficulty to send His one and only Son to the cross at Calvary to slay Him on our behalf.

Old Testament Verse about Resurrection

Isaiah 26:19 – “Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.”

Ezekiel 36:26 – “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

Daniel 12:2 – “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”

[1] Accessed 1/13/2020 http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975_2112269_2112278,00.html

 
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Posted by on March 27, 2023 in Resurrection

 

The Evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection – John 20:1-10

23 Mar

I always am fascinated to watch footage of engineers taking down an old building by placing dynamite charges at strategic points so that the building implodes. By finding just those few load-bearing points in the foundation, the entire building collapses into a heap of rubble.

The entire Christian faith rests on one historically verifiable point: the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The apostle Paul says (1 Cor. 15:17), “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” Everything in the Christian faith rests on the historical truth that Jesus was raised from the dead. If you can explode that one truth, the Christian faith collapses.

But I need to clarify that we’re talking about objective truth. We live in an age that holds to a subjective, experience-oriented view of truth. But if Jesus was raised bodily from the dead, then He is the only truth and the only way to the Father (John 14:6). And this truth applies to every person. As Paul proclaimed to the Athenian philosophers, they should repent because (Acts 17:31), God “has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Jesus’ resurrection was at the center of the apostles’ witness. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached (Acts 2:32), “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.” He told the crowd that gathered after God used him and John to heal the lame man at the temple gate (Acts 3:14-15), “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.” When the apostles were dragged before the Jewish Sanhedrin, Peter boldly proclaimed (Acts 4:10), “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health.” (See also, Acts 4:33; 5:30; 10:40; 13:32-37; 17:18, 31; 26:23).

The emphasis on Jesus’ resurrection led church historian Philip Schaff to conclude (History of the Christian Church [Eerdmans], 1:173, cited by Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict [Campus Crusade for Christ], p. 190), “The resurrection of Christ is therefore emphatically a test question upon which depends the truth or falsehood of the Christian religion. It is either the greatest miracle or the greatest delusion which history records.”

At the same time, we must acknowledge that there are some difficulties harmonizing the gospel accounts of the resurrection. John lacks stories that the other gospels have and he includes stories that they lack or do not report exactly as he does. For example, Luke 24:12 mentions Peter’s visit to the tomb, but doesn’t mention that John went with him. John tells of Mary Magdalene’s early morning visit to the tomb, but doesn’t mention the other women who accompanied her. More differences could be cited. But as Leon Morris explains (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans], p. 828), “The differences between the Gospels amount to no more than a demonstration that here we have the spontaneous evidence of witnesses, not the stereotyped repetition of an official story.”

Eyewitnesses report what they have seen and heard, but different eyewitnesses to the same event can report seemingly contradictory details that still are all true. For example, the late theologian Kenneth Kantzer had a friend whose mother was killed. Kantzer first heard about her death through a trusted mutual friend who reported that the woman had been standing on the street corner, was hit by a bus, and died a few minutes later. Later he heard from the dead woman’s grandson that she was riding in a car that was in a collision, she was thrown from the car and killed instantly. The boy was quite certain of his facts. Which story was correct?

Dr. Kantzer later learned from the dead woman’s daughter that her mother had been waiting for a bus, was hit by another bus and critically injured. A passing motorist put her in his car and sped off to the hospital. En route, he was in a collision in which the injured woman was thrown from the car and killed instantly. Although the accounts seemed contradictory, both were true! (Christianity Today [10/7/88], p. 23.) So while there are harmonistic problems, we can trust the different resurrection accounts.

John’s purpose for writing what he saw concerning Jesus’ resurrection, as well as all of the other miracles he reports, is (John 20:31), “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” Thus,

The evidence for Jesus’ bodily resurrection should lead us to believe in Him as Savior and Lord.

So let’s consider five evidences in John’s Gospel for Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead.

1. The first evidence for Jesus’ resurrection: the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty.

John (20:1) reports that Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb “and saw the stone taken away from the tomb.” This was a large, round stone placed in a groove in front of the tomb to secure it from grave robbers. It would have taken several strong men to roll that stone out of the groove. The Jewish leaders feared that the disciples would come and steal Jesus’ body and claim that He was risen. So they went to Pilate and got a Roman guard to secure the tomb (Matt. 27:63-66). They set a seal on the stone and were there guarding the tomb when an angel came and rolled away the stone (Matt. 28:1-4)—not so that Jesus could get out, but so that the witnesses to the resurrection could get in to verify that the tomb was empty! The guards reported what had happened to the Jewish leaders, who gave them a large sum of money and told them to tell anyone who asked that the disciples came at night and stole Jesus’ body while the guards slept (Matt. 28:11-15).

There are several problems with that story. The Roman guards would have faced the death penalty if they had fallen asleep while on guard. Even if they had dozed off, the sound of a group of men moving the heavy stone would have awakened them. Besides, after the crucifixion, the disciples were too depressed and fearful to pull off a grave robbery. And even if they had stolen Jesus’ body or bribed the guards to take it away, they wouldn’t then have endured persecution and eventual martyrdom to proclaim what they knew to be a hoax.

In addition to the stone being rolled away, the tomb was empty. Mary Magdalene was not expecting the resurrection, but when she saw that the stone was rolled away, she assumed that somebody had taken Jesus’ body. She immediately ran to the disciples to report (John 20:2), “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” This caused Peter and John to run to the tomb to see for themselves. John outran Peter, but he hesitated to go into the tomb. He stooped and looked in, seeing the grave clothes. Typically impetuous Peter brushed past John and went in. Then John went into the tomb and they both confirmed that Jesus’ body was not there.

If the Jewish leaders knew where Jesus’ body was, they would have produced it the instant that the apostles began proclaiming the resurrection. So the stone rolled away and the empty tomb both bear witness to Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead.

2. The second evidence for Jesus’ resurrection: the grave clothes.

John goes into more detail concerning the grave clothes than the other gospels do. In telling the story, John uses three different Greek words meaning “to see.” When John first arrived at the tomb, he stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in (John 20:5). He uses the common Greek word that suggests nothing more than sight. But when Peter got there, he entered the tomb and saw the linen wrappings (John 20:6). Here the Greek word has the nuance of looking carefully or examining something. We get our word theater from it. Audiences at a theater watch carefully so as not to miss any part of the play. Finally, John went in, saw, and believed (John 20:8). Here John uses a word that means to see with understanding.

What did Peter and John see? Jewish burials involved wrapping the corpse with linen strips and tucking spices into the folds to offset the stench of the corpse. The head was wrapped separately. Peter and John saw the linen wrappings with the face cloth rolled up by itself in an orderly manner, but Jesus’ body was gone. Grave robbers would not have taken the time to remove the grave clothes at the scene, but would have grabbed the body with the grave clothes and left. Or, if they had removed them, they would have left them scattered in a disorderly fashion. D. A. Carson (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], pp. 637-638) observes, “The description is powerful and vivid, not the sort of thing that would have been dreamed up; and the fact that two men saw it (v. 8) makes their evidence admissible in a Jewish court (Dt. 19:15).”

When Jesus raised Lazarus, he was raised in his old body which was still subject to disease and death. So Lazarus couldn’t pass through the grave clothes, but had to be unbound by bystanders (John 11:44). But Jesus was raised with a resurrection body that is no longer subject to death. That new body is physical, yet could pass through the grave clothes, leaving them lying there intact. He later could pass through closed doors without opening them, as well as appear and disappear suddenly at will (John 20:19, 26; Luke 24:15, 31).

3. The third evidence for Jesus’ resurrection: His post-resurrection appearances.

Here I’m looking ahead to the rest of John’s narrative. He cites four post-resurrection appearances of Jesus: To Mary Magdalene (20:11-18); to the disciples except Thomas (20:19-23); to the disciples, including Thomas (20:24-31); and, to seven of the disciples, by the Sea of Galilee (21:1-25). Paul mentions several other appearances, including one to over 500 people at one time, many of whom were still alive when he wrote (1 Cor. 15:6-8). The varied circumstances of the appearances and the different personalities of the witnesses militate against hallucinations or visions. Even Thomas, who at first was skeptical, became convinced when he saw the risen Lord (John 20:27).

John Warwick Montgomery (History and Christianity [IVP], p. 19, cited by McDowell, ibid., p. 233) commented:

Note that when the disciples of Jesus proclaimed the resurrection, they did so as eyewitnesses and they did so while people were still alive who had had contact with the events they spoke of…. It passes the bounds of credibility that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale and then preached it among those who might easily have refuted it simply by producing the body of Jesus.

A skeptic might counter that the reports of Jesus’ resurrection are all given by believers. Why didn’t Jesus appear to any unbelievers so that they would come to faith? Peter alludes to this when he preached to the Gentiles gathered in Cornelius’ house (Acts 10:40-41): “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.”

But the risen Savior did later reveal Himself to one militant unbeliever: Saul of Tarsus, later known as the apostle Paul. The only way to explain Paul’s dramatic conversion is that he saw the risen Lord Jesus. But he was shown unusual grace. Normally, God doesn’t reveal Himself to proud skeptics, especially when they have already rejected the light that He has given them. The Jewish leaders had rejected many witnesses to Christ (John 5:31-40), so He did not show Himself to them after His resurrection, except through the witness of the apostles, which they also rejected. They refused to come to Jesus to receive life, so they were given over to judgment. But for those willing to submit to Jesus as Lord, His post-resurrection appearances are a strong evidence of His resurrection.

4. The fourth evidence for Jesus’ resurrection: the changed lives of the witnesses.

John shows that none of the witnesses was expecting a resurrection. Mary Magdalene thought that someone had taken Jesus’ body (John 20:2, 15). Neither John nor Peter at first understood the Scripture that Jesus must rise again from the dead (John 20:9). All the disciples were fearful and confused. Thomas was depressed and doubting. But all were transformed into the bold witnesses of the Book of Acts because they became convinced that Jesus rose bodily from the dead. They were so convinced that the resurrection was true that many of them went on to die as martyrs.

John calls attention here (John 20:8) to his own change of belief when he saw the empty tomb and the grave clothes: “So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.” John and the other apostles obviously had already believed in Jesus, as evidenced by their following Him. So what did John here believe? He believed in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (see John 20:25, 27, 29). Dr. Carson (p. 638) points out that most of the early witnesses came to believe the resurrection after they saw Jesus alive from the dead, but John came to such faith before he saw Jesus in resurrected form.

Also, John 20:9 explains, “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” The apostles’ understanding of the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus’ resurrection came later. What Scripture was John referring to? Isaiah 53:10-12 speaks of the Messiah alive and seeing His offspring after He has been led like a sheep to the slaughter. Psalm 22 describes Christ’s death by crucifixion, but in verse 22 the mood shifts abruptly as He proclaims, “I will tell of Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” And in Psalm 16:10 Messiah proclaims, “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.” On the Day of Pentecost, Peter cited that verse and explained that it could not refer to the author, David, who was still in his tomb. Rather, it spoke of Jesus, whom God raised from the dead (Acts 2:25-32).

Also, there is another subtle change in the lives of the witnesses alluded to in our text. John 20:1 mentions that Mary came to the tomb on the first day of the week (Sunday). Church history affirms that the early church gathered for worship on Sunday, not on the Jewish Sabbath (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2). Why would they change an institution that had been in place for centuries? They did it to proclaim and celebrate the Lord’s resurrection from the dead.

Thus the stone rolled away and the empty tomb; the grave clothes; the post resurrection appearances; and the changed lives of the witnesses, are all evidence that Jesus is risen. Finally,

5. The fifth evidence for Jesus’ resurrection: His unique Person and amazing claims.

Study the Gospel accounts of who Jesus was, what He taught, His astounding claims, the miracles He performed, and the prophecies He fulfilled. On more than one occasion He predicted His own death and resurrection (Matt. 16:21; Luke 9:22; John 2:19-22; 16:16-20, 28). His encounter with doubting Thomas shows that His purpose was to bring Thomas into a place of full faith in His deity. When Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God,” Jesus did not rebuke or correct him for overstating things. Rather, Jesus commended Thomas’ correct perception and faith (John 20:27-29). A merely good teacher, especially a devout Jewish rabbi, would never accept such worship from a follower.

Everything in the Gospel accounts about Jesus’ person and teaching argues against His being a charlatan or lunatic. The only sensible option is that He is who He claimed to be: the eternal Son of God in human flesh, the Messiah of Israel. He offered Himself for our sins and God raised Him bodily from the dead. He wants those of us who have not seen Him to believe in Him (John 20:29).

The British New Testament scholar, B. F. Westcott (cited by Josh McDowell, More Than a Carpenter [Living Books], pp. 96-97) said, “Taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.” You may wonder, “If the evidence is so convincing, why don’t more people believe it?” The answer is: people refuse to believe in Jesus’ resurrection because it has personal implications that they do not want to face. If Jesus is risen, then He is the rightful Lord of all and I must turn from my sin and live under His lordship. Because people don’t want to do that, they refuse to believe in Jesus in spite of the evidence.

Conclusion: Here are four concluding applications:

1. Our faith in the risen Savior is grounded on solid historical evidence: Believe it and proclaim it!

Faith in Christ is not a blind leap in the dark. It is based on the apostolic witness, which is to say, the eyewitness testimony of credible men. I’ve always been bothered by the line in the hymn, “He Lives”: “You ask me how I know He lives; He lives within my heart.” That is completely subjective. The reason I know He lives is that he predicted His resurrection and the apostles and many others saw Him after He arose.

Wilbur M. Smith concluded (Therefore Stand [Baker], p. 419, cited by McDowell, Evidence, p. 187): “If our Lord said, frequently, with great definiteness and detail, that after He went up to Jerusalem He would be put to death, but on the third day He would rise again from the grave, and this prediction came to pass, then it has always seemed to me that everything else that our Lord ever said must also be true.” When you tell people about Jesus, emphasize that they need to believe in Him because He truly is risen and He is coming again to judge the living and the dead.

2. Our faith in the risen Savior must include repentance and surrender to His lordship.

The demons believe that Jesus is risen from the dead, but such faith does them no good. Saving faith in the risen Savior means repenting from sin and bringing every area of life under His rightful lordship (Acts 17:30-31).

3. Be encouraged that the Lord does not cast us off when our faith is weak and our understanding is shallow, but He graciously leads us to deeper faith and understanding as we seek Him.

Mary did not yet expect the resurrection, but she loved the Lord and wanted to give Him a proper burial. Peter’s and John’s faith and understanding were very weak at this point, but the Lord graciously nurtured them along and later used them mightily. We serve a gracious and loving Savior who can sympathize with our weaknesses. Draw near to Him, especially when you’re confused or doubting (Heb. 4:15-16).

4. Jesus’ bodily resurrection is the guarantee of our future bodily resurrection; so in your bodily weakness, hope in Him.

It is not news, especially to us who are getting up in years, that our bodies are subject to aging, sickness, and death. But the promise of Scripture is that since Jesus is risen, all who believe in Him will be raised and given new resurrection bodies that are not subject to sickness and death (1 Cor. 15:12-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 21:3-4).

The evangelist D. L. Moody told of a 15-year-old girl who was suddenly hit with an illness that left her paralyzed on one side and almost blind. As she lay in bed one day, she heard the family doctor say to her parents, “She has seen her best days, poor child.” But she was a believer and she quickly responded, “No, doctor, my best days are yet to come, when I shall see the King in His beauty.” (In James Boice, The Gospel of John [Zondervan], p. 1,400.) Her hope is your hope if your trust is in the risen Savior!

 
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Posted by on March 23, 2023 in Resurrection

 

Religious leaders bribe the guards – Matthew 28ff

20 Mar

11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

The Great Commission

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [1]

28:11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.  Jesus’ resurrection was already causing a great stir in Jerusalem. A group of women was moving quickly through the streets, looking for the disciples to tell them the amazing news that Jesus was alive. At the same time, guards were on their way, not to Pilate, but to the chief priests. If these were Roman guards (see commentary on 27:65), under Roman law, they would have paid with their lives for falling asleep on the job (28:13). Since they were assigned to the Jewish authorities, they went to the religious leaders badly in need of a cover-up. They went to the chief priests, to tell them everything that had happened (at least up to the point where they fainted!).

28:12–15  When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”  The religious leaders’ worst fears had been realized (27:63–64)—Jesus’ body had disappeared from the tomb! Instead of even considering that Jesus’ claims had been true and that he truly was the Messiah risen from the dead, the chief priests and elders devised a plan and paid a bribe to the soldiers in order to explain away what had happened. What irony that the chief priests were forced to bribe the guards to spread the very lie that the chief priests had tried to prevent! This may have seemed like a logical explanation, but they didn’t think through the details. Why would Jesus’ disciples, who already had run off on him at his arrest, risk a return at night to a guarded and sealed tomb in an effort to steal a body—an offense that could incur the death penalty? If they had done so, would they have taken the time to unwrap the body and leave the graveclothes behind?

If this had occurred while the guards were asleep, how could the guards possibly have known that the disciples came during the night and stole the body? If this truly happened, why didn’t the religious leaders arrest the disciples in order to prosecute them? The story was full of holes and the guards would have to admit to negligence on their part, so getting them to spread this rumor required a large sum of money. If the governor (Pilate) were to hear the story, the Jewish leaders promised to intervene for the guards, satisfy Pilate with the made-up rumor, and keep the guards out of trouble. (Considering their treatment of Judas in 27:4, one ought to wonder at the sincerity of these words!) Nevertheless, the plan worked:  So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.  Apparently the sum of money paid was worth it, because the soldiers took it and did as they were instructed. The story circulated and many people believed the lie, also apparently not thinking through the information long enough to ask the obvious questions. The story was still being circulated in the days of Matthew’s writing this Gospel, and even in the days of Justin Martyr (a.d. 130–160).

 

 

 LIES COMPOUNDED

First the religious leaders had to get false accusers to give false reports at Jesus’ kangaroo court. Then they had to invent false charges of treason against Roman authority. Here they developed an alibi for the guards, and, if necessary, they would lie to Pilate to protect the guards and themselves.

Lying leads to lying. If you start down that slide, there’s a gravity that keeps pulling you down. Invent one story, and you’ll have to invent another, sure thing.

•       Take a lesson from these sorry leaders. Tell the truth, and live free from the worry that your cover may be blown. At home, require the truth from your children, and give the truth to them. At work, be up-front and square. The bumps you may feel over the truth are nothing like the boulders you’ll have to climb by lying to protect yourself.
 

 

JESUS GIVES THE GREAT COMMISSION / 28:16–20

28:16–17 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.  Jesus made several appearances to various people after his resurrection (see the chart “Jesus’ Appearances after His Resurrection” on page 577). “The eleven” refers to the remaining disciples after the death of Judas Iscariot. Although he first appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem, at his first appearance, Thomas had been absent. He doubted the story of the rest of the disciples, until Jesus appeared to him as well (John 20:24–31). They did go to Galilee, as Jesus had previously directed them (26:32; 28:10). At some point they returned to Jerusalem where Jesus ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:9). “The mountain” referred to here in Galilee is unknown; however, mountains figured prominently in Matthew, for they are found sixteen times in connection with divine revelation (at the Temptation, Sermon on the Mount, Transfiguration, etc.).

In an effort to exclude the eleven disciples from having “doubted” Jesus, some scholars have suggested that they who saw him refers to more than just the eleven disciples—perhaps the “five hundred brothers” mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:6 nrsv. But the text doesn’t allow for this; among the eleven who saw Jesus there were some who doubted—which means, they had hesitations about believing in Jesus’ resurrection. Apparently on their walk from Jerusalem to Galilee, lengthy discussions were held. Matthew may have been reporting some of the doubts and concerns still lingering in the minds of the eleven chosen disciples. Of course, they would all eventually be fully convinced and believe.

This mountain at the conclusion of our Lord’s life corresponds to the mountain of temptation at the beginning. There he was offered the empire of the world, if only he would take the easy lower path; here he is acknowledged King of the world because he took the hard one of obedience unto death. F. B. Meyer

 

 

 DOUBT

Matthew’s honesty is remarkable. Some of the disciples struggled with doubt.

No Christian grows in faith without some doubt. The five-year-olds who took in every Bible story will become the fifteen-year-olds who want to know how, what, why, when, and where. And they will grow, too, and press for deeper answers along the way.

When you doubt, don’t be discouraged. It’s not a sin nor a failure. It’s a normal part of spiritual growth. Keep talking with thoughtful Christian friends and teachers, keep studying and praying, keep serving the Lord, and keep asking questions and looking for answers. God gave you a mind to discover his truth. Don’t let anyone tell you that discovery is wrong.

28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” N When someone is dying or leaving us, we pay close attention to his or her last words. Jesus left the disciples with these last words of instruction:

  • They were under his authority.
  • They were to make more disciples.
  • They were to baptize and teach these new disciples to obey Christ.
  • They would have Christ with them always.

JESUS’ APPEARANCES AFTER HIS RESURRECTION

1. Mary Magdalene

 

 Mark 16:9–11; John 20:10–18

 
2. The other women at the tomb

 

 Matthew 28:8–10

 
3. Peter in Jerusalem

 

 Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5

 
4. The two travelers on the road

 

 Mark 16:12–13; Luke 24:13–35

 
5. Ten disciples behind closed doors

 

 Luke 24:36–43; John 20:19–25

 
6. All eleven disciples (including Thomas)

 

 Mark 16:14; John 20:26–31; 1 Corinthians 15:5

 
7. Seven disciples while fishing on the Sea of Galilee

 

 John 21:1–14

 
8. Eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee

 

 Matthew 28:16–20; Mark 16:15–18

 
9. A crowd of 500

 

 1 Corinthians 15:6
10. Jesus’ brother James

 

 1 Corinthians 15:7

 
11. Those who watched Jesus ascend to heaven

 

 Mark 16:19–20; Luke 24:50–53; Acts 1:3–9

 

God gave Jesus authority over heaven and earth, a sweeping concept that implies divine status. He has “all authority”—that is, nothing is outside of his sovereign control. The major message here and in 28:20 is that Jesus, the one raised from the dead, has the authority of God himself. During Satan’s temptation of Jesus, Satan had offered “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” (4:8 nrsv). Jesus resisted the tempter, obeyed God to the point of horrible death, and was raised again in victory to receive all authority over heaven and earth—something Satan could never have given because it was never his in the first place.

28:19–20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.  On the basis of his authority, Jesus told his disciples to go and make disciples as they preached, baptized, and taught. “Making disciples” means instructing new believers on how to follow Jesus, to submit to Jesus’ lordship, and to take up his mission of compassionate service. To be a disciple means entering a relationship of learner to Master (Teacher) with Jesus. The church must not merely evangelize, but it also must show new converts how to obey Jesus’ commands. Discipleship must be stressed without neglecting evangelism. “Baptism” is important because it unites a believer with Jesus Christ in his or her death to sin and resurrection to new life. Baptism symbolizes submission to Christ, a willingness to live God’s way, and identification with God’s covenant people. To baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit affirms the reality of the Trinity, the concept coming directly from Jesus himself. He did not say baptize them into the “names,” but into the “name” of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While the word “Trinity” does not occur in Scripture, it well describes the three-in-one existence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (See also Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 12:4–6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:4–6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13.)

Whereas in previous missions Jesus had sent his disciples only to the Jews (10:5–6), their mission from here forward would be to go to all the nations. This is called the Great Commission. The disciples had been trained well, and they had seen the risen Lord. They were ready to teach people all over the world to observe all things that Jesus had commanded them. This also showed the disciples that there would be a lapse of time between Jesus’ resurrection and his second coming. During that time, Jesus’ followers had jobs to do—evangelize, baptize, and teach people about Jesus so that they, in turn, could do the same. The good news of the gospel was to go forth to all the nations.

With this same authority, Jesus still commands us to tell others the Good News and make them disciples for the kingdom. We are to go—whether it is next door or to another country—and make disciples. It is not an option, but a command to all who call Jesus “Lord.” We are not all evangelists in the formal sense, but we have all received gifts that we can use to help fulfill the Great Commission. As we obey, we have comfort in the knowledge that Jesus is always with us. “Always” literally means “all the days” and refers to the presence of Christ with each believer every moment. This would occur through the Holy Spirit’s presence in believers’ lives. The Holy Spirit would be Jesus’ presence that would never leave them (John 14:26; Acts 1:4–5). Jesus continues to be with us today through his Spirit. As this Gospel began, so it ends—Immanuel, “God with us” (1:23).

The Old Testament prophecies and genealogies in the book of Matthew present Jesus’ credentials for being King of the world—not a military or political leader, as the disciples had originally hoped, but a spiritual King who can overcome all evil and rule in the heart of every person. If we refuse to serve the King faithfully, we are disloyal subjects. We must make Jesus King of our lives and worship him as our Savior, King, and Lord.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 28:11–20.

 
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Posted by on March 20, 2023 in 1 Corinthians, Resurrection

 

Jesus raises from the dead – Matthew 28:1-7

16 Mar

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”[1]

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the central fact of Christian history. On it, the church is built; without it, there would be no Christian church today. Jesus’ resurrection is unique. Other religions have strong ethical systems, concepts about paradise and afterlife, and various holy scriptures. Only Christianity has a God who became human, literally died for his people, and was raised again in power and glory to rule his church forever.

Why is the Resurrection so important?

  • Because Christ was raised from the dead, we know that the kingdom of heaven has broken into earth’s history. Our world is now headed for redemption, not disaster. God’s mighty power is at work destroying sin, creating new lives, and preparing us for Jesus’ second coming.
  • Because of the Resurrection, we know that death has been conquered and that we, too, will be raised from the dead to live forever with Christ.
  • The Resurrection gives authority to the church’s witness in the world. Look at the early evangelistic sermons in the book of Acts: The apostles’ most important message was the proclamation that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead!
  • The Resurrection gives meaning to the church’s regular feast, the Lord’s Supper. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we break bread with our risen Lord.
  • The Resurrection helps us find meaning even in great tragedy. No matter what happens to us as we walk with the Lord, the Resurrection gives us hope for the future.
  • The Resurrection assures us that Christ is alive and ruling his kingdom. He is not legend; he is alive and real.
  • The power of God that brought Christ’s body back from the dead is available to us to bring our morally and spiritually dead selves back to life so that we can change and grow (1 Corinthians 15:12–19).

Christians can look very different from one another, and they can hold widely varying beliefs about politics, lifestyle, and even theology. But one central belief unites and inspires all true Christians—Jesus Christ rose from the dead!

28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.  The women could not make the trip to the tomb until after the Sabbath. As dawn approached, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. Both of them had been at Jesus’ cross and had followed Joseph so they would know where the tomb was located (27:56, 61). Mark also mentioned that Salome was with them; she had also been at the cross and was probably the mother of the disciples James and John. The women went home and kept the Sabbath as the law required, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. In the Jewish reckoning of time, a day included any part of a day; thus, Friday was the first day, Saturday was the second day, and Sunday was the third day. Unlike the Jewish leaders, they certainly had no expectation that the disciples would steal the body (27:62–66). When the women arrived at daybreak on Sunday, the third day, Jesus had already risen.

Mark explained that they had gone back to the tomb to bring spices and perfumes to anoint Jesus’ body because they had had no time to do so before the Sabbath (Mark 16:1). Anointing a body was a sign of love, devotion, and respect. Bringing spices to the tomb would be like bringing flowers to a grave today. Since they did not embalm bodies in Israel, they would use perfumes as a normal practice. The women undoubtedly knew that Joseph and Nicodemus had already wrapped the body in linen and spices. They probably were going to do a simple external application of the fragrant spices. Matthew, however, omitted the detail of their visit, explaining only that they came to see the tomb.

28:2–4 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  Again a supernatural event took place, probably having occurred before the women arrived at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake (see also 27:51–52) that occurred as the angel of the Lord descended, or it was the means by which the stone was rolled away from the tomb’s entrance. The stone was not rolled back so Jesus could get out, but so others could get in and see that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, just as he had promised. This is as close a description of the Resurrection as the Bible gives us.

Mark records that the women were concerned about how they would get into the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body (Mark 16:3). They had seen Joseph put the stone at its entrance (27:60–61), although they may have been unaware of the sealing of the stone and of the guards who had been posted. When they arrived at the tomb, they saw that the large stone had already been rolled aside. An angel of the Lord was sitting on the stone.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.  The radiance of this angel made him appear like lightning. These words recall Old Testament visions like that of Daniel (see Daniel 7:9; 10:6). The angel’s beauty and glory, coming from heaven itself, caused the posted guards to faint with fear and caused great fear for the women as well (28:5, 8). Matthew and Mark wrote that one angel met the women at the tomb, while Luke mentions two angels. Each Gospel writer chose to highlight different details as he explained the same story, just as eyewitnesses to a news story may each highlight a different aspect of that event. Matthew and Mark probably emphasized just the angel who spoke.

28:5–6 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”  The angel spoke reassuringly to the frightened women. They were looking for Jesus, the human being who had been crucified on the cross. But Jesus was not there; he had risen. Jesus had given the disciples three predictions of both his death and of his resurrection (16:21–28; 17:22–23; 20:17–19). The angel said to the women, “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again” (Luke 24:6–7 nrsv).

The angel invited the women to look into the inner burial chamber and see the place where he lay. John records that the linen cloths that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body were left as if Jesus had passed right through them. The handkerchief was still rolled up in the shape of a head, and it was at about the right distance from the wrappings that had enveloped Jesus’ body (John 20:6–7). A grave robber couldn’t possibly have made off with Jesus’ body and left the linens as if they were still shaped around it. The best explanation was that Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he said he would.

 

 

 COME AND GO

The angel who announced the good news of the Resurrection to the women gave them four messages:

1.     “Do not be afraid.” The reality of the Resurrection brings joy, not fear. When you are afraid, remember the empty tomb.

2.     “He is not here.” Jesus is not dead and is not to be looked for among the dead. He is alive, with his people.

3.     “Come and see.” The women could check the evidence themselves. The tomb was empty then, and it is empty today. The Resurrection is a historical fact.

4.     “Go quickly and tell.” They were to spread the joy of the Resurrection. We too are to spread the great news about Jesus’ resurrection.

28:7 “Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” N The women who had come to anoint a dead body were given another task—proclaiming the Resurrection to the frightened disciples. Mark explained that the angel made special mention of Peter to show that, in spite of Peter’s denials, Jesus had not disowned and deserted him. According to Luke’s account, several women ran to tell the disciples: “Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened” (Luke 24:10–12 nrsv). John, in his personal account, added that he too dashed in amazement to the tomb (John 20:3–5).

The disciples had deserted Jesus in the hour of trial, but the angel’s words held hope of renewal and forgiveness. The disciples had deserted, but they were directed to meet Jesus in Galilee. This was exactly what Jesus had told them during the Last Supper, that he would go ahead of them into Galilee after his resurrection (26:32).

 JESUS APPEARS TO THE WOMEN / 28:8–10

28:8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.  The women hurried away from the tomb, realizing that they had seen the results of an awesome miracle in the empty tomb and had been in the presence of an angel. This revelation from God had filled them with a mixture of fear and joy. They obeyed the angel’s command and ran to the eleven disciples with the good news of the empty tomb and Jesus’ resurrection.

28:9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.  As the women ran from the tomb, in their path appeared Jesus himself! The women took hold of his feet (a Near Eastern custom for a subject showing obeisance to a king) and worshiped him, giving homage to their Savior, Lord, and King.

 

 

 MEETING THE SAVIOR

When Moses met God on Mount Sinai, it was a scene of holy terror: burning bush, awesome voice, brilliant glory-light. But here, Jesus surprises the two Marys and says, “Hello.” What a friendly way to greet two devoted followers.

How does Jesus greet us today? Usually in quiet, friendly ways.

•       With a moment of deep assurance after a morning prayer.

•       Through the touch of a friend come to share a piece of news.

•       By the arrival of a letter from an old friend.

•       Through a feeling of wonder at the Lord’s Supper during morning worship.

How does Jesus greet you? Share your joy with others this week

28:10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” N By “brothers,” Jesus meant his disciples. This showed that he had forgiven them, even after they had disowned and deserted him, and that he raised them to a new level of fellowship—from disciples to “brothers” (see John 15:15). Jesus told the women to pass a message on to the disciples—that they should go to Galilee, as he had previously told them (26:32). Galilee was where Jesus had called most of them and where he had said they would become “fishers of men” (4:19 niv), and it would be where this mission would be restated (John 21). But the disciples, filled with fear, remained behind locked doors in Jerusalem (John 20:19). Jesus met them first in Jerusalem (Luke 24:36) and later in Galilee (John 21). Then he returned to Jerusalem, where he ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:9–12).

In almost every example of God breaking into life on earth, the opening words are, “Fear not … Have no fear, I am with thee.” Our Father knows that we need constant reassurance. Catherine Marshall

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 28:1–7.

 
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Posted by on March 16, 2023 in 1 Corinthians, Resurrection

 

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?

13 Mar

The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.

headclothThe Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.

Is that important?…You’d better believe it!…Is that significant?…Absolutely!…Is it really significant?…Yes!  

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day.  The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it.

The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now if the master was done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that  napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear  the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, “I’m done”.  But  if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it  beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because  the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, “I’m not finished yet.”  

The folded  napkin meant, “I’m coming back!”

 
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Posted by on March 13, 2023 in 1 Corinthians, Jesus Christ

 

A study of the Resurrection from 1 Corinthians #31 Resurrection Hope

06 Mar

1 Peter 1:3-7 (ESV) 3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
5  who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Peter reveals the tremendous depth and scope of God’s plan. God chooses, destines, cleanses, and covers those who believe. All three members of the Trinity—God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—work together to take us to our final destination. What amazing teamwork and strategy.

With God’s strength, we can try harder to do more at greater risk without fear. We can face trials knowing that the final victory belongs to God.

Despite the growing threat of organized persecution, he reminded the Christians that they were and would remain God’s selected and loved people who, although strangers in this world and often persecuted by it, would eventually find their eternal rest and home with Christ.

This letter continues to encourage Christians facing trials. Two-thirds of believers around the world live under governments more repressive than the Roman Empire of the first century.

Christians everywhere face misunderstanding, ridicule, and even harassment by unbelieving friends, employers, teachers, and family members.

In some countries, converting to Christianity is punishable by death. No one is exempt from catastrophe, pain, illness, and death—trials that, like persecution, make us lean heavily on God.

The first verses of the first chapter show the perspective we should have in trials. We are chosen, but we must live as resident aliens. We know that we belong to the triune God rather than to this world. For today’s readers, as well as for Peter’s original audience, the themes of this letter are hope and assurance in Jesus Christ.

When Peter says “Grace and peace,” he’s saying much more than “Have a nice day!” Grace describes God’s character. It’s a theological statement of immense importance. The heart behind the universe is a gracious heart of love. Although he is the center of all power, God cares for you as a person.

The meaning of peace goes far beyond merely the cessation of hostilities. Peace between you and God settles your biggest problem—sin.

When God saves us, he removes all our rebellion and indifference to him. Peace with God gives you the base for solving your second tier of problems—relationships with everyone else in the world. With your relationship with God made right, you have the energy and insight to work on your human relationships. All this comes at a price you could not pay yourself; it was prepaid by Jesus on the cross.

By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.NRSV We find God’s mercy always at the center of any discussion of salvation. Only God’s mercy would allow him to have compassion for sinful and rebellious people.

Salvation is all completely from God; we can do nothing to earn it. Salvation is given to us because of God’s great mercy alone.

Christ Jesus has given us hope of eternal life. Our hope is not only for the future; it is “living.” Eternal life begins when we trust Christ and join God’s family. Regardless of our pain and trials, we know that this life is not all there is. Eventually we will live with Christ forever.

We have hope based on our conviction that God will keep his promises. We base our hope in a future resurrection on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

By rising from the dead, Christ made the necessary power available for our resurrection. Christ’s resurrection makes us certain that we too will be raised from the dead.

We shouldn’t be discouraged by earthly trials, for we have the Resurrection to be our backup.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is one of the crucial and non-negotiable doctrines of the Bible. Here are just a few reasons why this is true:

  • Jesus declared that His resurrection would serve as His final sign, which would demonstrate that His claims and teachings are true (Matthew 12:38-40; Romans 1:4).
  • The resurrection is an inseparable part of the gospel, which must be believed (1 Corinthians 15; Romans 10:9f,).
  • The resurrection is one of the ways the Holy Spirit bears witness to the truth of the gospel, convincing men that Jesus has been raised from the dead because His grave is empty and we see Him no more (John 16:8-11; note especially verse 10).
  • The resurrection is a powerful warning to those who reject Jesus as Savior because there will be a future judgment with eternal consequences. In short, the unsaved dead will be raised to life, to live forever away from the presence of God (Daniel 12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10; Revelation 20:11-15).
  • In the Book of Acts, it was the apostles’ proclamation that Jesus had risen from the dead that the Jewish religious leaders found intolerable and sought to suppress (Acts 1:22; 2:31; 4:2, 33; 23:6-8).

But by the time we reach Peter’s epistles, we find Peter defending the very suffering he had avoided.

Indeed, we find him declaring suffering for Christ’s sake not only to be the will of God but the cause for rejoicing:

In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;” (1 Peter 1:6,7).

Items Which Bring About Chaos
A. Absence of Biblical authority.
(1 Pet 1:13) “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

Chaos will always result when there is no authoritative source of truth. What fills that void? The WORD OF GOD, the revelation of God who has always spoken the truth, who always declared what is right.

Truth is not merely some abstract body of orthodox religious laws – truth is that which makes life work…grow…to be rich and full … in contrast, lies are what make our lives small, shrink and die

1:13: “Prepare your minds for action.”

Gird up loins, roll up sleeves. We’re going to have to THINK!

3;15: “Be prepared to give an answer”

When our faith is on trial, we will be found immune and deficient: no answer/ reason to offer for our hope … and hope without a reason is ultimately hopeless.

People who know their theology … will not be such easy prey to modern secularism, or theological liberalism, or New Age pantheism.

  1. Absence of moral identity.
    (1 Pet 1:15-16) “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; {16} for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.””

    Peter makes sure his church knows who they are:
  • God’s elect/chosen (1:1-2)
  • obedient children (1:14)
  • blood-bought redeemed (1:18-19)
  1. Absence of the experience of transcendence.
    (1 Pet 1:8-9) “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, {9} for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

What we have to offer is not some religious adrenalin experience (“getting high on Jesus”) .….but the possibility of a living relationship with a transcendent God, creator of the deepest joys the human heart can know.

 
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Posted by on March 6, 2023 in 1 Corinthians

 

A study of the Resurrection from 1 Corinthians #30 Of First Importance – 1 Corinthians 15

02 Mar

The truth never loses its power. People, however, often lose their grip on truth. The struggles in the Corinthian church made it clear to Paul that they needed to refocus their attention on the gospel.

The resurrection of Christ is not just a matter of fact, which can be taken lightly–it is literally a matter of eternal life or death. The resurrection is not simply a fact to be believed or rejected, it is a fact to which our response will determine our eternal destiny.

Unlike most of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15 is devoted entirely to doctrine, and to a single doctrine at that. In these 58 verses Paul gives the most extensive treatment of the resurrection in all of Scripture.

Just as the heart pumps life-giving blood to every part of the body, so the truth of the resurrection gives life to every other area of gospel truth. The resurrection is the pivot on which all of Christianity turns and without which none of the other truths would much matter.

It is of great importance to remember that the Corinthians were denying not the Resurrection of Jesus Christ but the resurrection of the body.

Without the resurrection, Christianity would be so much wishful thinking, taking its place alongside all other human philosophy and religious speculation.

The resurrection was the focal point of every other truth Christ taught. He taught His disciples that “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31).

He said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies” (John 11:25).

The first two sermons preached after Pentecost focused on the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:14–36; 3:12–26).

Because of that truth the heart-broken followers of the crucified Rabbi were turned into the courageous witnesses and martyrs who, in a few years, spread the gospel across the Roman empire and beyond. Belief in the resurrection, the truth that this life is only a prelude to the life to come for those who trust in Jesus Christ and are baptized into Christ, could not be obliterated by ridicule, prison, torture, or even death. No fear or dread in this life can quench the hope and joy of an assured life to come.

True New Testament Christianity is a religion of the resurrection. John Locke, the 18th-century British philosopher, said, “Our Savior’s resurrection is truly of great importance in Christianity, so great that His being or not being the Messiah stands or falls with it.”

Because it is the cornerstone of the gospel, the resurrection has been the target of Satan’s greatest attacks against the church. If the resurrection is eliminated, the life-giving power of the gospel is eliminated, the deity of Christ is eliminated, salvation from sin is eliminated, and eternal life is eliminated.

“If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19). If Christ did not live past the grave, those who trust in Him surely cannot hope to do so.

Without the resurrection salvation could not have been provided, and without belief in the resurrection salvation cannot be received. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Rom. 10:9). It is not possible, therefore, to be a Christian and not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Proof #1—their salvation (vv. 1-2).

Proof #2—the Old Testament Scriptures (vv. 3-4).

Proof #3—Christ was seen by witnesses (vv. 5-11).

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

—————–

When your leader dies, what do you do? When Jesus died the hopes of eleven men were shattered. The disciples like many others had hoped for a kingdom. The disciples expected Jesus to establish that kingdom.

They had argued over who would have the highest station in the kingdom (Matthew 18:1). Asked “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” The mother of two of the disciples had tried to influence Jesus to give her sons places of preference in the coming kingdom (Mark 10:37 and Matthew 20:21).

The disciples of Jesus, like their fellow Jews, were looking for an earthly kingdom. That kingdom would be brought about by a messiah. The disciples and many others thought that that Jesus was that messiah.

The disciples’ hope for a kingdom was shattered. Jesus, the man they thought was the messiah, was dead. Jesus had been crucified as a criminal. Peter followed at a distance to see what would happen to Jesus (Luke 22:54f).

Jesus had told the disciples about his death. The apostle Paul later wrote, “…but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews….” (I Corinthians 1:23)

In a little over a month a great change took place. The disciples began to declare a new message in Jerusalem. The disciples, who had given up hope and hid in fear, now boldly proclaimed that Jesus was indeed the messiah (Acts 2:36). “Therefore let all the house of Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

They proclaimed that the death of Jesus had been in the will and plan of God even though it was an inexcusable murder (Acts 2:23).

Their conduct and their attitude toward Jesus had been radically changed. Was it the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost? Important to the birth of the church – very important. Not the only changing element in the disciples.

The disciples were changed from a terrified, hopeless band of men to the bold preachers of Jesus the messiah and savior.

  • In the Gospels we read of the event that transformed the disciples: the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
  • The dead teacher had become the risen, living savior.

THE STORY OF THE RESURRECTION

Jesus was buried just before the Sabbath began. The women go to the tomb on the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene

Mary, mother of James and Salome. They brought spices to anoint the body. They wondered who would move the stone for them. Luke says, “They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.” (24:2)

Matthew states that a great earthquake had occurred. An angel of the Lord rolled the stone away. The guards were frightened.

The women found the tomb empty. The angels told them that Jesus had arisen from the dead. The women brought the news of what they had seen to the eleven disciples. The disciples did not believe the women.

Peter and John go to the tomb (John 20:1-9) John outran Peter, stopped at the tomb’s entrance, and looked inside, seeing the linen cloths. Peter entered the tomb. The linens were neatly arranged.

Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. Jesus asked her why she was crying (20:15). She thought he was the gardener. Wanted to know where the body of Jesus had been taken Jesus called her by name: “Mary” (20:16). Mary recognized Jesus and said, “teacher”. Mary told the disciples what had happened.

Jesus appears to ten of the disciples.

  1. Jesus appeared to his disciples, except for Thomas. At first, they were frightened. The disciples were glad when they realized that Jesus was alive. “The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20). Jesus appears to Thomas and the other disciples. Thomas was not about to believe that Jesus was alive. Jesus appeared again when Thomas was present.
  2. Jesus made other appearances. John 21:1-24 – to seven disciples by the Sea of Galilee
  3. Jesus appeared to the eleven on a mountain in Galilee. Jesus made a final appearance to his disciples and then ascended into heaven. This event would change the world.

THE CERTAINTY OF THE RESURRECTION

Many find the idea of the resurrection hard to accept. The disciples were hard to convince. Many modern people, including some Bible scholars, consider the resurrection of Christ to be impossible.

The resurrection had to occur. God, the creator, made the “laws of nature”. He can also break them. If the resurrection did not occur the rest of the story does not make sense. Just because we have not seen a man raised from the dead does not mean it could not happen. We are confronted with an empty tomb. How can we explain it?

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RESURRECTION

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central event in Christianity. Early preaching centered on the fact of the resurrection. Jesus had been raised. Jesus was exalted to God’s right hand in heaven. If Jesus was not raised our faith is worthless, we are in sin, and the dead have perished. Jesus must have arisen from the dead or we are without hope

Leon Barnes – “As powerful as the cross of Christ is, it would have no power had Jesus remained in the tomb. The act which validated His death was the resurrection (Romans 1:4). The resurrection of Christ is central to the gospel itself. There would be no good news without the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-3).”

  1. F. Bruce – “The crucifixion and the resurrection are necessary to each other. There can be no gospel without both, for neither is meaningful without the other.”
  2. J. Hoover has well written: The Resurrection isn’t just a pretty optional extra of Christian theology, invented by some Pollyanna theologian to give a happy ending to the tragic death of Jesus. No! The Resurrection is the linchpin of our complete system. Remove it and the whole structure of Christianity collapses. . .. If the cross was the last thing we knew about Jesus we would judge him a failure. His death would have justified the Sanhedrin in executing him for blasphemy.” (A. J. Hoover, The Case for Christian Theism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1976), 227.)

Professor C. E. M. Joad, the noted philosopher of London University, was asked which one of all the figures of history he would most like to meet, and what he would most like to ask that person. He replied that he would most like to meet Jesus. The question he would most like to ask was what he described as “the most important question in the world”: “Did You or did You not rise from the dead?” (Quoted in Michael Green, The Day Death Died (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1982), 15. – Tommy South)

CONCLUSION. I Corinthians 15:20 – “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

“Jesus is well and alive today. He makes his home in my heart. Nevermore, will I be alone, since he promised me that we never would part.”

Jesus lived and died. Jesus arose from the dead to die no more. Paul Harvey – “And that’s the rest of the story.”

 

 
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Posted by on March 2, 2023 in 1 Corinthians

 

A study of God’s Love from 1 Corinthians #29 Love Bears All Things

27 Feb

After explaining what love does not do (13:4b–6), Paul listed four positive attributes of love. First of all, love always protects. The word in Greek, stego, means “cover” or “hide by covering.” This does not refer to hiding hurtful sin but to protecting someone from embarrassment, gossip, or any other such harm. When believers love one another, they refuse harmful gossip and protect one another from those who would try to inflict harm.[1]

Love can endure anything.  It is just possible that this may mean “love can cover anything,” in the sense that it will never drag into the light of day the faults and mistakes of others.  It would far rather set about quietly mending things than publicly displaying and rebuking them.  More likely it means that love can bear any insult, any injury, any disappointment.  It describes the kind of love that was in the heart of Jesus himself, “Thy foes might hate, despise, revile, Thy friends unfaithful prove; Unwearied in forgiveness still, Thy heart could only love.”

The four qualities mentioned in verse 7 are hyperbole, exaggerations to make a point. Paul has made it clear that love rejects jealousy, bragging, arrogance, unseemliness, selfishness, anger, resentment, and unrighteousness. It does not bear, believe, hope, or endure lies, false teaching, or anything else that is not of God. By all things Paul is speaking of all things acceptable in God’s righteousness and will, of everything within the Lord’s divine tolerance. The four qualities listed here are closely related and are given in ascending order.

Stegō (to bear) basically means to cover or to support and therefore to protect. Love bears all things by protecting others from exposure, ridicule, or harm. Genuine love does not gossip or listen to gossip. Even when a sin is certain, love tries to correct it with the least possible hurt and harm to the guilty person. Love never protects sin but is anxious to protect the sinner.

Fallen human nature has the opposite inclination. There is perverse pleasure in exposing someone’s faults and failures. As already mentioned, that is what makes gossip appealing. The Corinthians cared little for the feelings or welfare of fellow believers. It was every person for himself. Like the Pharisees, they paid little attention to others, except when those others were failing or sinning. Man’s depravity causes him to rejoice in the depravity of others. It is that depraved pleasure that sells magazines and newspapers that cater to exposés, “true confessions,” and the like. It is the same sort of pleasure that makes children tattle on brothers and sisters. Whether to feel self-righteous by exposing another’s sin or to enjoy that sin vicariously, we all are tempted to take a certain kind of pleasure in the sins of others. Love has no part in that. It does not expose or exploit, gloat or condemn. It bears; it does not bare.

“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions” (Prov. 10:12). We can measure our love for a person by how quick we are to cover his faults. When one of our children does something wrong we are inclined to put the best face on it. “He didn’t understand what he was doing,” we explain, or “She didn’t really mean what she said.” With a person we do not like, however, our reaction is likely to be the opposite: “That is typical of John,” or, “What would you expect from someone like her?”

Love does not justify sin or compromise with falsehood. Love warns, corrects, exhorts, rebukes, and disciplines. But love does not expose or broadcast failures and wrongs. It covers and protects. Henry Ward Beecher said, “God pardons like a mother who kisses the offense into everlasting forgetfulness.”

The mercy seat, where the blood of atonement was sprinkled (Lev. 16:14), was a covering, not only for the ark itself but for the sins of the people. The mercy seat was a place of covering. That covering prefigured the perfect and final covering of sin accomplished by Jesus on the cross in His great propitiatory sacrifice (Rom. 3:25–26; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:2). In the cross God threw the great mantle of His love over sin, forever covering it for those who trust in His Son. By nature, love is redemptive. It wants to buy back, not condemn, to save, not judge.

Love feels the pain of those it loves and helps carry the burden of the hurt. True love is even willing to take the consequences of the sin of those it loves. Isaiah wrote of Jesus Christ, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; … He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him” (Isa. 53:4–5). As Peter knew firsthand from Jesus’ great patience and kindness, “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8).

During Oliver Cromwell’s reign as lord protector of England a young soldier was sentenced to die. The girl to whom he was engaged pleaded with Cromwell to spare the life of her beloved, but to no avail. The young man was to be executed when the curfew bell sounded, but when the sexton repeatedly pulled the rope the bell made no sound. The girl had climbed into the belfry and wrapped herself around the clapper so that it could not strike the bell. Her body was smashed and bruised, but she did not let go until the clapper stopped swinging. She managed to climb down, bruised and bleeding, to meet those awaiting the execution. When she explained what she had done, Cromwell commuted the sentence. A poet beautifully recorded the story as follows:

At his feet she told her story, showed her hands all bruised and torn, And her sweet young face still haggard with the anguish it had worn, Touched his heart with sudden pity, lit his eyes with misty light. “Go, your lover lives,” said Cromwell; “Curfew will not ring tonight.”[2]

In this one verse, Paul speaks of four different qualities of love, all linked to each other by the word rendered “all things.” This rendering, “all things,” seems to fall short of communicating what Paul is saying. Love does not, for example, believe everything.188

It is not “love” for a mother to believe her child when he denies getting into her freshly made pie, when the meringue has formed a mustache around his mouth.

  • Love bears all things: the word bears (stegei) means both to cover all things and to bear up under all things.
  • Love does both: it stands up under the weight and onslaught of all things and it covers up the faults of others.
  • It has no pleasure in exposing the wrong and weaknesses of others.
  • Love bears up under any neglect, abuse, ridicule—anything that is thrown against it.
  • When it learns something unpleasant about another it does not run and scatter it all over the neighborhood. It does not take delight in some of the misdeeds of others.
  • Not that it will not do something about it, but it does not spread it about for others to hear.

Paul has just written that love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” (verse 6). How can he now inform us that “love” accepts everything as truth, believing whatever one is told?

For these reasons, some translations have chosen to render Paul’s words differently:

7 “There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its endurance” (The New English Bible).

7 “Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything” (Phillips).

Love is always characterized by certain qualities, without exception. Throughout history, man has sought to excuse disobedience or sin by convincing himself that his situation is an exception.

Jesus was asked if a man could divorce his wife for any reason at all (Matthew 19:3). His response was a refusal to dwell on the exceptions and to focus on the rule.

The love of Jesus always protects; it bears all things. He did and still does endure, support, forbear, and cover all things. His death on the cross covered our sins, and now he provides the power necessary to help us grow in our love for him and for each other.

He continues to provide forgiveness for our failures. This covering includes discipline when necessary (Hebrews 12:5-13).

This is why Paul has already excluded any “loopholes” in the Bible, by insisting that whenever we succumb to temptation, it is not because we had to (“There was nothing else I could do … after all, I’m only human …”), but because we failed to act upon God’s divinely provided “way of escape”:

13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

And so Paul informs his readers that there are four things love never ceases to possess and to practice, four things which can always be expected from genuine love.

(1) Love always bears up under adversity (“bears all things”).

Love “patiently accepts all things” (NCV)
Love “always supports” (TNT)
Love “never gives up” (GNB)

… here the apostle seems to be saying something about the endurance of love, its ability to go on no matter what the opposition.189

Edwards points out that the Greek term employed by Paul has two senses:

The term used here by Paul “… means originally ‘cover over,’” … then, “contain as a vessel.” From this latter meaning two metaphorical uses of the word are derived, either of which may be here adopted: (1) that love hides or is silent about the faults of others; (2) that love bears without resentment injuries inflicted by others.190

I do not believe we are forced to one choice or the other. It is completely within the realm of possibility that Paul meant us to understand this word in terms of its broader range of meaning. If this is so, we can see two major dimensions to love’s consistent capacity to “hold up” rather than “fold up.”

First, love bears up silently; that is, love covers sin with a cloak of silence. Sin is shameful, and love does not wish the sinner to be shamed more than necessary.

“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions” (Prov. 10:12). We can measure our love for a person by how quick we are to cover his faults. When one of our children does something wrong we are inclined to put the best face on it. “He didn’t understand what he was doing,” we explain, or “She didn’t really mean what she said.” With a person we do not like, however, our reaction is likely to be the opposite: “That is typical of John,” or, “What would you expect from someone like her?”

Love does not justify sin or compromise with falsehood. Love warns, corrects, exhorts, rebukes, and disciplines. But love does not expose or broadcast failures and wrongs. It covers and protects. Henry Ward Beecher said, “God pardons like a mother who kisses the offense into everlasting forgetfulness.”

Noah’s son, Ham, broadcast his father’s shame to his brothers when Noah was drunk and naked in his tent. His brothers “covered” Noah’s nakedness in a way that prevented them from viewing his shame (Genesis 9:20-23).

Peter reminds us that Jesus suffered silently, not responding verbally to the abuses hurled upon Him, and that this pattern of silent suffering is to be followed by all the saints (1 Peter 2:18–3:15; 4:8).

Matthew’s Gospel sheds further light on this matter of our silence when Jesus teaches His disciples about church discipline (Matthew 18:15-20). We are to go privately to a brother who has sinned against us, and if he repents as a result of our rebuke, the matter is settled, never to be made public.

If, however, this wayward brother resists and refuses to repent, then the matter once dealt with in the strictest privacy must now be dealt with in a way that becomes more and more public. After all efforts to turn the wayward brother from sin have been rejected, the whole church must be notified of his sin, and he must be publicly ex-communicated.

Love always seeks to keep the sin of a wayward brother as private as possible, but this does not mean we cannot and should not be confronted publicly, if all private efforts have failed.

The mercy seat, where the blood of atonement was sprinkled (Lev. 16:14), was a covering, not only for the ark itself but for the sins of the people. The mercy seat was a place of covering. That covering prefigured the perfect and final covering of sin accomplished by Jesus on the cross in His great propitiatory sacrifice (Rom. 3:25-26; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:2). In the cross God threw the great mantle of His love over sin, forever covering it for those who trust in His Son. By nature, love is redemptive. It wants to buy back, not condemn, to save, not judge.

Love feels the pain of those it loves and helps carry the burden of the hurt. True love is even willing to take the consequences of the sin of those it loves. Isaiah wrote of Jesus Christ, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried;… He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was rushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him” (Isa. 53:4-5). As  Peter knew firsthand from Jesus’ great patience and kindness, “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8).

During Oliver Cromwell’s reign as lord protector of England a young soldier was sentenced to die. The girl to whom he was engaged pleaded with Cromwell to spare the life of her beloved, but to no avail. The young man was to be executed when the curfew bell sounded, but when the sexton repeatedly pulled the rope the bell made no sound. The girl had climbed into the belfry and wrapped herself around the clapper so that it could not strike the bell. Her body was smashed and bruised, but she did not let go until the clapper stopped swinging. She managed to climb down, bruised and bleeding, to meet those awaiting the execution. When she explained what she had done, Cromwell commuted the sentence. A poet beautifully recorded the story as follows:

At his feet she told her story; showed her hands all bruised and torn, And her sweet young face still haggard with the anguish it had worn, Touched his heart with sudden pity, lit his eyes with misty light.

“Go, your lover lives,” said Cromwell; “Curfew will not ring tonight.”

Love … bears all things…

How long must I put up with you?  Jesus’ actions answered his own question.… Until the rooster sings and the sweat stings and the mallet rings and a hillside of demons smirk at a dying God. How long? Long enough for every sin to so soak my sinless soul that heaven will turn in horror  until my swollen lips pronounce the final transaction: “It is finished.” How long? Until it kills me.

Paul was never more the wordsmith than when he crafted this sentence. Listen to its rhythm as originally written: panta stegei, panta pisteuei, panta elpigei, panta upomenei. (Now when people ask you what you are doing, you can say, “I’m reading some Greek.” Say it humbly, however, for love does not boast.) Did you notice the fourfold appearance of panta ?

Expansions of panta appear in your English dictionary. Pantheism is the belief that God is in all things. A pantry is a cupboard where one can, hopefully, store all things. A panacea is a cure for all things. And a panoply is an array of all things. Panta means “all things.”

Such love isn’t easy. Not for you. Not for me. Not even for Jesus. Want proof? Listen to his frustration: “You people have no faith. How long must I stay with you? How long must I put up with you?” ( Mark 9:19 ).

To know Jesus asked such a question reassures us. But to hear how he answered it will change us. How long must I put up with you?

“Long enough to be called crazy by my brothers and a liar by my neighbors. Long enough to be run out of my town and my Temple. Long enough to be laughed at, cursed, slapped, hit, blindfolded, and mocked. Long enough to feel warm spit and sharp whips and see my own blood puddle at my feet.” [3]

 

[1] Bruce B. Barton and Grant R. Osborne, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1999), 190–191.

[2] John F. MacArthur Jr., 1 Corinthians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1984), 352–353.

[3]Lucado, M. 2002. A love worth giving : Living in the overflow of God’s love. W Pub. Group: Nashville, Tenn.

 
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Posted by on February 27, 2023 in 1 Corinthians

 

A study of God’s Love from 1 Corinthians #28 Love Rejoices in the Truth

23 Feb

Love rejoices in the truth: rejoices when the truth is known and when it prevails; rejoices when others are recognized and promoted for whom they are and for what they have contributed.

Love rejoices when the truth is rooted and grounded in a person and among the people of the world. Note that love never covers nor hides the truth; love is courageous in that it faces the truth.

Love rejoices with the truth. That is not so easy as it sounds.  There are times when we definitely do not want the truth to prevail; and still more times when it is the last thing we wish to hear.  Christian love has no wish to veil the truth; it has nothing to conceal and so is glad when the truth prevails.

After mentioning eight negatives, things that love is not or does not do, Paul lists five more positives (see v. 4a). The first is a contrast with the last negative: love rejoices with the truth.

At first glance it may seem strange to contrast not rejoicing in unrighteousness with rejoicing in the truth. But the truth Paul is speaking about here is not simply factual truth. He is speaking of God’s truth, God’s revealed Word.

Righteousness is predicated on God’s truth and cannot exist apart from it. Love always rejoices in God’s truth and never with falsehood or false teaching. Love cannot tolerate wrong doctrine. It makes no sense to say, “It doesn’t make a great difference if people don’t agree with us about doctrine. What matters is that we love them.” “Why do we nit-pick so much about who is a Christian?”

That is the basic view of what is commonly called the ecumenical movement. But if we love others it will matter a great deal to us whether or not what they believe is right or wrong. What they believe affects their souls, their eternal destinies, and their representation of God’s will, and therefore should be of the highest concern to us. It also affects the souls and destinies of those whom they influence.

What is Truth? This is an age-old question, but many of our time feel it has become an accepted fact among most “learned” people that we can know “truth” (with a small “t”)–but that we cannot know “Truth” (with a big “T”). We can identify pieces of data, events, conditions, etc., as being real and factual–but the big questions of the universe, ultimate Truth, are impossible to answer.

Love is consistent with kindness but it is not consistent with compromise of the truth. Compromising the truth is not kind to those whom we mislead by our failure to stand firmly in the truth. 2 John 6–10 (ESV) And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,

“This is love,” John tells us, “that we walk according to His commandments” (2 John 6).

To compromise, for example, with those who cast doubt on the incarnation is not loving, and it risks losing reward (vv. 7-8).

Love, truth, and righteousness are inseparable. When one is weakened the others are weakened. A person who teaches falsehood about God’s truth should not even be received into our home or given a greeting (v. 10). We are not to rejoice in a wrong doctrine that he teaches or in a wrong way in which he lives. Love rejoices in the truth and never in falsehood or unrighteousness.

On the other hand, love does not focus on the wrongs of others. It does not parade their faults for all the world to see. Love does not disregard falsehood and unrighteousness, but as much as possible it focuses on the true and the right. It looks for the good, hopes for the good, and emphasizes the good. It rejoices in those who teach the truth and live the truth.

Do you want to know if your love for someone is true? If your friendship is genuine? Check the room key. Ask yourself: Do I influence this person to do what is right?

(Matthew 10:15 NIV)  I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

(Matthew 10:42 NIV)  And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

(Matthew 18:3 NIV)  And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

 (Matthew 19:23 NIV)  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

(Matthew 21:31 NIV)  “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.

 (Mark 10:29 NIV)  “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

(John 4:23-24 NIV)  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. {24} God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

(John 6:53 NIV)  Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

 (John 8:32 NIV)  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

(John 8:44-46 NIV)  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. {45} Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! {46} Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?

(John 8:51 NIV)  I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

(John 14:6 NIV)  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

(Galatians 4:16 NIV)  Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

(1 Timothy 3:15 NIV)  if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

(2 Timothy 2:15 NIV)  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

(Hebrews 10:26 NIV)  If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,

(1 John 1:6 NIV)  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

(1 John 1:8 NIV)  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

(1 John 2:4 NIV)  The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

(1 John 3:18-19 NIV)  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. {19} This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at ry.

est in his presence

 (1 Corinthians 13:6 NIV)  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

”What is a Christian?” The Bible has a definitive answer to this question, as it does with most others. According to the Scriptures, Christians are those who have come to realize their own sinfulness before God and their inability to save themselves, have turned to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance, they are willing to confess the name of Jesus in public and are gladly immersed in water in order to have their sins forgiven/washed away.

But it does not end there…there is growth or maturity as one seeks to become more like Jesus and seeks to know God’s will…and have the courage to act on it.

The first principle is: There IS such a thing as Truth, it is propositional, it is recorded in God’s Word, it is to be the focal point of our lives, and it is personified in Jesus Christ. Contrary to the teachings and beliefs of human philosophers and occult religionists, Truth exists. Truth is propositional, that means it is something we can put into word, phrases, and sentences that make sense. Truth is recorded in God’s Word (John 17:17). We can find the answers to life’s questions in the Book of Books. Truth is meant to be the focal point of one’s life We are to know the Truth and to live it.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

The second major principle of THY Word is Truth is that Biblical Truth is objective “TRUE” Truth. Unlike liberal, existential forms of the Christian faith, Biblical faith teaches that the events recorded in the Bible are reliable historical facts.

Thirdly, what does the Bible say about the Purpose of Human Life? It teaches that the human race is a special creation of a personal, loving, God, and our purpose as a race and as individuals is to glorify Him, to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus His Son, and to live with Him forever.

It is our destiny and reward as believers to be conformed to the likeness, the image, of Christ. We won’t BE Him; we will never have His attributes of Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Immutability–but our actions and our countenance will be more like Him.

Philippians 2:9–11 (ESV) Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God has decreed that every knee will bow to His son, including those under the earth, which is a Biblical reference to Hell. We were created to glorify God, and every human being will.

Some will do it as they rejoice in heaven over the salvation of Christ, and some will do it as they suffer the just eternal punishment for their sins.

The final part of the purpose of our existence is to Live with God forever. Oh, what a joy, to live in the presence of God eternally, to have no sin or human troubles to worry us, and to enjoy sweet fellowship with Him!

When all of this is taken together, a balanced Christian life will emerge. We will not be either lazy or workaholics; we will have an ordered family with a loving atmosphere; we will serve God in every way.

This is how life is to be lived–our life is not separated into our “private, religious life” and our “secular” life. The life of a Christian is to be one seamless tapestry, with all parts working together under the direction of the Holy Spirit, by the rule of God’s word, following God’s Son for the glory of the Triune God.

Today, let’s decide, as best we are able, to recognize truth, to appreciate it for what it is, and act, with God’s help, to practice it till the last breath we take.

 
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Posted by on February 23, 2023 in 1 Corinthians

 

A study of God’s Love from 1 Corinthians 13 – #27 Love Rejoices in the Truth

20 Feb

Love rejoices in the truth: rejoices when the truth is known and when it prevails; rejoices when others are recognized and promoted for whom they are and for what they have contributed.

 Love rejoices when the truth is rooted and grounded in a person and among the people of the world. Note that love never covers nor hides the truth; love is courageous in that it faces the truth.

Love rejoices with the truth. That is not so easy as it sounds.  There are times when we definitely do not want the truth to prevail; and still more times when it is the last thing we wish to hear.

Christian love has no wish to veil the truth; it has nothing to conceal and so is glad when the truth prevails.

 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

At first glance it may seem strange to contrast not rejoicing in unrighteousness with rejoicing in the truth. But the truth Paul is speaking about here is not simply factual truth. He is speaking of God’s truth, God’s revealed Word.

 Righteousness is predicated on God’s truth and cannot exist apart from it. Love always rejoices in God’s truth and never with falsehood or false teaching. Love cannot tolerate wrong doctrine.

It makes no sense to say, “It doesn’t make a great difference if people don’t agree with us about doctrine. What matters is that we love them.”

“Why do we nit-pick so much about who is a Christian?”

That is the basic view of what is commonly called the ecumenical movement.

The ecumenical movement is the brain child of the Roman Catholic Church. This moment gained momentum during the Second Vatican Council held in Rome from 1962 to 1965. The primary purpose of the ecumenical movement is to draw individuals, groups and churches back into the Roman Catholic religious system.

But if we love others it will matter a great deal to us whether or not what they believe is right or wrong.

What we believe affects our souls, our eternal destinies, and our representation of God’s will, and therefore should be of the highest concern to us. It also affects the souls and destinies of those whom they influence.

What is Truth? This is an age-old question, but feel it has become an accepted fact among most “learned” people that we can know “truth” (with a small “t”)–but that we cannot know “Truth” (with a big “T”). We can identify pieces of data, events, conditions, etc., as being real and factual–but the big questions of the universe, ultimate Truth, are impossible to answer.

Agape (love) is consistent with kindness but it is not consistent with compromising of the truth.

Compromising the truth is not kind to those whom we mislead by our failure to stand firmly in the truth.

2 John 6–10 (ESV) And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,

To compromise, for example, with those who cast doubt on the incarnation is not loving, and it risks losing reward.

Love, truth, and righteousness are inseparable. When one is weakened the others are weakened.

We are not to rejoice in a wrong doctrine that he teaches or in a wrong way in which he lives. Love rejoices in the truth and never in falsehood or unrighteousness.

On the other hand, love does not focus on the wrongs of others. It does not parade their faults for all the world to see.

Love does not disregard falsehood and unrighteousness, but as much as possible it focuses on the true and the right.

It looks for the good, hopes for the good, and emphasizes the good. It rejoices in those who teach the truth and live the truth.

Do you want to know if your love for someone is true? If your friendship is genuine? Check the room key. Ask yourself: Do I influence this person to do what is right?

(Matthew 10:15 NIV)  I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

(Matthew 10:42 NIV)  And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

(Matthew 18:3 NIV)  And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

 (Matthew 19:23 NIV)  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

(Matthew 21:31 NIV)  “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.

 (Mark 10:29 NIV)  “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

(John 4:23-24 NIV)  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. {24} God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

(John 6:53 NIV)  Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

 (John 8:32 NIV)  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

(John 8:44-46 NIV)  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. {45} Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! {46} Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?

(John 8:51 NIV)  I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

(John 14:6 NIV)  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

(Galatians 4:16 NIV)  Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

(1 Timothy 3:15 NIV)  if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

(2 Timothy 2:15 NIV)  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

(Hebrews 10:26 NIV)  If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,

(1 John 1:6 NIV)  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

(1 John 1:8 NIV)  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

(1 John 2:4 NIV)  The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

(1 John 3:18-19 NIV)  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. {19} This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence

 (1 Corinthians 13:6 NIV)  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

  1. S. Lewis wrote that when one comes to see and understand the truth. “I must do something about it.”

This congregation has always been part of “The Restoration Movement.”

There are some common statements that help to explain this:

·       “That the Bible is the only rule of faith and practice for Christians.”
·       “That the Old and New Testaments alone contain the authoritative constitution of the church which Christ built.”
·       “That no human authority has power to amend or change the original constitution and laws of the church.”
·       “That faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is a sufficient profession to entitle a man or woman to become a member of the church which Christ built.”
·       “That division among Christians is anti-Christian, anti-scriptural, unnatural, and to be abhorred.”
·       “That neglect of the revealed will of God and the introduction of human innovations are and have been the causes of all the corruptions and divisions that have ever taken place in the church…”
·       “That all that is necessary to secure the highest state of purity and perfection in the church is to restore the original ordinances and constitution as exhibited in the New Testament.”

 “What is a Christian?” The Bible has a definitive answer to this question, as it does with most others.

According to the Scriptures, Christians are those who have come to realize their own sinfulness before God and their inability to save themselves, have turned to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance, they are willing to confess the name of Jesus in public and are gladly immersed in water in order to have their sins forgiven/washed away.

But it does not end there…there is growth or maturity as one seeks to become more like Jesus and seeks to know God’s will…and have the courage to act on it.

Philippians 2:9–11 (ESV) Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Today, let’s decide, as best we are able, to recognize truth, to appreciate it for what it is, and act, with God’s help, to practice it till we take our last breath.

 
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Posted by on February 20, 2023 in 1 Corinthians

 
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