Sermon Exegesis for January 9th, 2011
MATTHEW 3:1-2
3 ᾽Εν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις παραγίνεται ᾽Ιωάννης ὁ βαπτιστὴς κηρύσσων ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τῆς ᾽Ιουδαίας 2 [καὶ] λέγων, Μετανοεῖτε, ἤγγικεν γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.
3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
Μετανοεῖτε present imv; "repent."
Suddenly, as if from nowhere, John appeared. Luke's Gospel tells us more about John -- he was a relative, perhaps a second cousin, of Jesus; his parents were Elizabeth and Zechariah the priest; and his birth, too, was prophesied by an angel.
The Desert of Judea begins at the plateau that Jerusalem and Bethlehem sit upon, and stretches back east and a little north to the upper tip of the Dead Sea and the mouth of the Jordan River. Just across the Jordan is the apparent location of "Bethany on the other side of the Jordan," where John 1:28 tells us is where John the Baptist was preaching. (New students to Scripture are sometimes confused by the two John's. John the Baptist was the relative of Jesus who preached and baptized before Jesus' ministry, and then was imprisoned and finally beheaded. The other John, son of Zebedee, was Jesus' disciple and Apostle, was specially beloved by Jesus, wrote the Gospel of John and four other New Testament books, and outlived all the other Apostles).
"Repent" is the key word of this passage. To repent is to change the mind; to be turned away from one's sins and one's will and be turned to God's will. Today we might say that it is "to do a one-eighty," that is, to turn 180 degrees around and go the opposite way -- away from sin, away from temptation, away from the Tempter, away from the devil, and away from eternal death. Repentance takes place in the heart, but we don't bring it about ourselves. God's holy law convicts our hearts. We are sinners. But then God's beautiful gospel goes to work, too, and flows over our wounds with the healing message of God's forgiveness. We turn away from our sins only through the gospel, and only through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Repent. Change your mind. Change your heart. Change your life. How? Through Jesus -- who paid for those sins. They aren't on your shoulders anymore. They aren't on your account. They're gone. Leave them behind. There's eternal life ahead!
MATTHEW 3:3-4
3 οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ῥηθεὶς διὰ ᾽Ησαίου τοῦ προϕήτου λέγοντος, Φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ῾Ετοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου, εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ. 4 Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ ᾽Ιωάννης εἶχεν τὸ ἔνδυμα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τριχῶν καμήλου καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσϕὺν αὐτοῦ, ἡ δὲ τροϕὴ ἦν αὐτοῦ ἀκρίδες καὶ μέλι ἄγριον.
3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" 4 John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Except for the final phrase εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ, the quote is the same as in the Septuagint of Isaiah 40:3. The LXX ends the quote with "make straight paths for our God" (εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν) rather than "make straight paths for him."
How is your preparation going?
John's cry is directed at us, not just at the people down by the Jordan. This passage is often read during Advent, the time of year just prior to Christmas, when we focus our attention on the coming Christ -- on his first coming at Christmas, and at his second coming at the end of the world.
So how is your preparation going?
John wore strange clothes, the clothes of an Old Testament prophet. He ate a strange diet (can you believe it -- locusts are a sort of delicacy in the Middle East. He may not have had the equivalent of caviar, but he had lots of protein). And he had a strange message: Prepare! We prepare ourselves for Christ's second coming by keeping in his Word. We prepare by daily destroying our sinful human nature. We focus each and every day on Christ. Jesus paid for our sins, and we turn away from them. We're going to trip sometimes; we're going to stumble and fall. But we keep focusing on Jesus.
He's coming again.
How is your preparation going?
MATTHEW 3:5-6
5 τότε ἐξεπορεύετο πρὸς αὐτὸν ῾Ιεροσόλυμα καὶ πᾶσα ἡ ᾽Ιουδαία καὶ πᾶσα ἡ περίχωρος τοῦ ᾽Ιορδάνου, 6 καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο ἐν τῷ ᾽Ιορδάνῃ ποταμῷ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐξομολογούμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν.
5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
περίχωρος (fem nom sg) "surrounding region, neighborhood."
ἐβαπτίζοντο imperfect passive, the imperfect showing continual action of the group, not of any individual ("one Lord, one faith, one baptism," Ephesians 4:5).
ἐξομολογούμενοι pres midd ptc, circumstantial temporal. "When" they confessed their sins, they were baptized.
Notice how three important parts of a Christian's life are present here: (1) Gathering with other Christians to hear the word, (2) confession of sins, and (3) baptism.
A goldfish basically needs water to survive. But holding a fish out in the rain is not going to help her survive very long, is it? She needs a tank, plenty of fresh water, an air supply bubbling through that water, and food. A Christian needs more than just a little instruction once upon a time to survive spiritually. We need to hear the word regularly and share our faith with others. We need to be reminded often of the forgiveness God gives us. And God gives us more than one way of saying that our sins are forgiven: The spoken absolution ("your sins are forgiven"), and also the sacraments, baptism and communion, both of which also bring the same wonderful saving message. Your sins are forgiven, washed clean, and paid for by the blood of Jesus.
Our Lutheran forefathers wrote: "Our people are taught that they should highly prize the absolution (pronouncement of absolute forgiveness), as being the voice of God, and pronounced by God's command. The power of the Keys is set forth in its beauty, and they are reminded (of) what great consolation it brings to anxious consciences." (Augsburg Confession, Article 25, paragraph 4).
We don't know what form John's baptism took. Probably it was similar to Jesus'. Certainly it was a "real" or valid baptism since it was what Christ himself and his Apostles received. Mark also tells us that John's baptism was "for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4), which is the same purpose as the one Jesus would command his disciples to perform (Matthew 28:19) -- to make disciples by forgiving sins.
We will discuss John's baptizing in the Jordan River and the form baptism takes when we meditate on Matthew 3:16.
Lord God, thank you for giving us your Son. Thank you for forgiving our sins. Teach us to lay our sins before you every day without trying to hide them, so that we may bask in the forgiveness you promise and you give, through your Son Jesus. Amen.
MATTHEW 3:7-8
7 ᾽Ιδὼν δὲ πολλοὺς τῶν Φαρισαίων καὶ Σαδδουκαίων ἐρχομένους ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα αὐτοῦ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν ϕυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς; 8 ποιήσατε οὖν καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας·
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were two extreme branches of Judaism. They came out to John to hear his message, and they may even have expected to be baptized by him. However, his message to them was not what they expected to hear. But the message was serious: God himself has warned us.
Many prophets had spoken out against spiritual leaders who were hypocrites. Ezekiel said: "They say 'The LORD declares,' when the LORD has not sent them; yet they expect their words to be fulfilled" (Ezekiel 13:6). Zephaniah said: "I will cut off... those who turn back from following the LORD and neither seek the LORD nor inquire of him" (Zephaniah 1:4, 6). And Amos said: "For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath] because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods" (Amos 2:4). Why did John bring similar, if not stronger, charges against these Jewish leaders?
MATTHEW 3:9-10
9 καὶ μὴ δόξητε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, Πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν ᾽Αβραάμ, λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι δύναται ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ ᾽Αβραάμ. 10 ἤδη δὲ ἡ ἀξίνη πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν δένδρων κεῖται· πᾶν οὖν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται.
9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Both the Pharisees and Sadducees were relatively new groups. When John was baptizing, they had been around for about 150 years. The Pharisees included many Jewish oral traditions along with what we call the Old Testament as the Word of God. They set up a sort of legal "hedge" around God's law with other laws that were meant to make it more difficult to sin. In practice, this meant that they tended to focus on the external, visible life. How you act is more important that what is in your heart -- or, in the words of Billy Crystal, "To look good is more important than to feel good." And yet we would agree with many of the beliefs of the Pharisees -- angels, heaven, the immortality of the soul, and of course the Ten Commandments were all part of their faith.
The Sadducees would be difficult for us to stomach. They denied the authority of Scripture, they attributed all events to free will, they denied the resurrection and any concept of heaven, they rejected the existence of angels or demons or of any spiritual world, and accepted only the first five books of the Bible as Scripture. In short, they were almost but not quite as deadly and damning as the leadership among theologically liberal Christians today. From what pastors of the ELCA have shared with me about their Seminary experience, their synod in particular would match the faith of the Sadducees (not necessarily the members in the pews, but the professors and synod leaders).
John calls both groups "vipers." Snakes have reminded us of deception since the Garden of Eden. "Vipers" are dangerous snakes. They aren't just deceptive and deadly, they are aggressive as well. But we must not simply point fingers. We won't stop sinning as long as we are alive, but when we try to ignore our sins, cover up our sins, or live with our sins "just because that's who I am" -- then we become the hypocrites.
Jesus, forgive our hypocrisy, and lead us to follow you.
You paid for our sins on the cross. Teach us to leave them there and follow you.
MATTHEW 3:11-12
11 ἐγὼ μὲν ὑμᾶς βαπτίζω ἐν ὕδατι εἰς μετάνοιαν· ὁ δὲ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἰσχυρότερός μού ἐστιν, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς τὰ ὑποδήματα βαστάσαι· αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί· 12 οὗ τὸ πτύον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ διακαθαριεῖ τὴν ἅλωνα αὐτοῦ, καὶ συνάξει τὸν σῖτον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην [αὐτοῦ], τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ.
11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." (RSV)
In just a few words, John the Baptizer gives us a picture of the full scope of Jesus' work, and a picture of the way the word works in our hearts.
First, the baptism: This passage makes some think there was a difference between John's baptism and Jesus' baptism. But Mark 1:4 tells us that the purpose of both was the same: for the forgiveness of sins. And John's Gospel (3:22-23) tells us that John and Jesus' disciples were baptizing at the same time and in the same area.
When John talks about Jesus' baptizing "with the Holy Spirit and with fire," he appears to be talking primarily about the effect that the Word has on our hearts: It either produces faith, or it hardens unbelief. Isaiah records these words from God: "My word...will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11). At the same time, we are reminded that faith within us is like a fire, and continued contact with the Word fans it into a bigger, brighter, stronger fire. So the work of the Holy Spirit produces either the fire of faith, or the flames of God's wrath.
The picture of a man with a winnowing fork was a common scene in ancient times -- and was even fairly common in the more recent past. When wheat was ground with a sledge or beaten, it was then thrown into the air with a winnowing fork (something like a pitch fork). The heavier kernels of wheat fall to the earth again, but the chaff (all the husks and hulls and stuff that isn't part of the kernel) is lighter and is carried away by the breeze. This is a picture of Jesus judging the world. The chaff (the unbeliever) is carried away to be burned in the fires and torments of hell. But the wheat (the believer) is safely kept by Jesus and brought into the barns of heaven.
Like John, you and I may not be fit to carry Jesus' sandals, but we can rejoice that through faith, we are God's wheat. The barn is ready. The Master comes with his winnowing fork. We have nothing to fear -- we are his. And he is our Savior.
MATTHEW 3:13
13 Τότε παραγίνεται ὁ ᾽Ιησοῦς ἀπὸ τῆς Γαλιλαίας ἐπὶ τὸν ᾽Ιορδάνην πρὸς τὸν ᾽Ιωάννην τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ.
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
παραγίνεται pres midd ind 3 sg παραγίνoμαι "come, appear."
ἐπὶ τὸν ᾽Ιορδάνην "to the Jordan," John, we are told, baptized "at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water" (John 3:23).
τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ genitive absolute; articularized infinitive marking purpose (as with a circumstantial participle). Jesus didn't just happen upon John baptizing in the Jordan, he sought John out in order to be baptized by him. There were between 20 and 25 natural fords over the Jordan between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Two important ones outside Galilee in the north were the ford of Abarah north of Beth Shan and the Dâmich ford at the mouth of the Jabbok (C.F. Kent, "Biblical Geography and History," 1922, p. 50-51).
MATTHEW 3:14
14 ὁ δὲ ᾽Ιωάννης διεκώλυεν αὐτὸν λέγων, ᾽Εγὼ χρείαν ἔχω ὑπὸ σοῦ βαπτισθῆναι, καὶ σὺ ἔρχῃ πρός με;
14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
διεκώλυεν imf active in 3 sg διακωλύω "prevent." Here the imperfect is conative (BDF 326), indicating that John "tried" to prevent Jesus from being baptized by him. John's response is little different than the prophets of the Old Testament falling down before the presence of God in visions (Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 1:6). The use of the emphatic σὺ in the second clause of the speech is intensive; we would use italics today for both σὺ and με.
MATTHEW 3:15
15 ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ ᾽Ιησοῦς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν, ῎Αϕες ἄρτι, οὕτως γὰρ πρέπον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν πληρῶσαι πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην. τότε ἀϕίησιν αὐτόν.
15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
῎Αϕες is the aorist imperative of ἀϕίημι: "Allow this, let it be."
John's baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Did Jesus need to repent? No -- Jesus endured temptations but never succumbed to them. He never sinned -- not once. Not a stray thought, not a rash word. Not a single misdeed. So why did he need to be baptized?
Jesus needed to be baptized πληρῶσαι πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην "to fulfill all righteousness." Not his righteousness -- ours. Every one of us needs to be baptized into Jesus, and his baptism connects us to him. We are washed just as he was. But the water that washes us is not just water, it is water connected with Jesus' very words -- "the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Luther explained: "It is certainly not the water that does such great things, but God's Word which is in and with the water and faith which trusts this Word used with the water. For without God's Word the water is just plain water, and not baptism. But with this Word it is baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of rebirth by the Holy Spirit."
The little words at the end of our passage should tell us something about our life of faith: "Then John consented." We do nothing to initiate our contact with God, but he invites us to receive faith as a gift. Our humble "consent" is not something we do actively, but something God gives us to do in response to his grace.
What a great God we have. He has connected himself to us by becoming human like us. And he has connected us to him through this simple faith-creating act of baptism. Thank you, Lord, for this bath of -- and into -- faith.
MATTHEW 3:16
16 βαπτισθεὶς δὲ ὁ ᾽Ιησοῦς εὐθὺς ἀνέβη ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος·
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. (NIV)
"Up out of the water" is a phrase that has given many Christians trouble. There are some who think that it must mean that Jesus was baptized by immersion -- dipping a person completely under water. However, the same phrase occurs in the first chapter of a very early Christian work called "The Shepherd of Hermas." There it clearly does not mean that the person involved is coming up from under the water, and so the Greek in context of our verse above need not mean that Jesus was immersed, either.
Sometimes Lutherans are criticized for not baptizing by immersing. Why don't we? We certainly could. In fact, it would be a beautiful testimony to Paul's words in Romans: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:4).However, Scripture nowhere insists that we baptize by immersing. True -- there seem to be examples where immersion is apparently the technique used, but such passage are merely descriptive, not prescriptive. They tell us what happened, not what we must do. When someone presumes to insist that we baptize in a certain way, they are flying in the face of God's Word. They are sinning when they make that kind of demand, and therefore we confess our faith when we refuse to baptize by immersion, even though we might actually prefer to immerse.
The command is simply to baptize, applying water with the name of the Triune God. In fact, the word "baptize" clearly does not always mean to immerse in passages such as Mark 7:4, where the Greek text tells us that such things as cups, pitchers, large kettles, and even (according to a well-attested textual variant) dining couches were "baptized" (NIV translates with "washing"). Washing -- applying water -- is all that the Greek "baptizo" really means.
Thanks be to God. For you and me, through the Word and the work of the Holy Spirit, our baptism means that you and I are forgiven of our sins, and we are connected to Jesus Christ, washed in his name. We are his, whether we were dipped, dunked, sprinkled or splashed.
MATTHEW 3:16b-17
καὶ ἰδοὺ ἠνεῴχθησαν [αὐτῷ] οἱ οὐρανοί, καὶ εἶδεν [τὸ] πνεῦμα [τοῦ] θεοῦ καταβαῖνον ὡσεὶ περιστερὰν [καὶ] ἐρχόμενον ἐπ' αὐτόν· 17 καὶ ἰδοὺ ϕωνὴ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν λέγουσα, Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα.
At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (NIV)
There are several places in Scripture where all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned, but few are clearer than this moment, when all three are present and active at the same time. To quote a basic summary of the doctrine of the Trinity from our catechism, "We refer to God as triune (three-in-one) because he reveals himself as three persons yet one God (John 15:26; Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 28:19; Deuteronomy 6:4; etc.)."
The work of God the Father is not only the creation of the universe (Genesis 1-2; Psalm 124:8) but also that he provides for us and protects us every day (Psalm 145:15-16; 1 Peter 5:7).
The work of God the Son was to redeem us from our sins (Colossians 2:13), and he will also judge the world on the Last Day (Acts 17:31).
The work of the Holy Spirit is to set us apart (sanctify us) by bringing us to faith and keeping us there through the Gospel in the Word and in the two Sacraments (2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 6:11).
One final note about the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of the Lord often came upon men who were set apart by God for a special purpose to empower them for their task ahead. This happened to Moses' seventy (or 72) elders (Numbers 11:25-26), Othniel, one of the Judges (Judges 3:10), the prophet Azariah (2 Chronicles 15:1), Balaam the foreign prophet (Numbers 24:2), and finally the Apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2:17; cf. Joel 2:28-32).
We take comfort from this passage in knowing that Jesus truly is God who became human for us. Through Jesus, our sins are paid for in full. Through Jesus, we have eternal life.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Hebrews 3:1-19
HEBREWS 3:1-2
3 ῞Οθεν, ἀδελϕοὶ ἅγιοι, κλήσεως ἐπουρανίου μέτοχοι, κατανοήσατε τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν ᾽Ιησοῦν, 2 πιστὸν ὄντα τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτὸν ὡς καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ.
3 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. (NIV)
There is a moment in Genesis 31 where Jacob is leaving Laban with his wives and children and all of the herds and flocks he had obtained. As they were leaving, Jacob's wife Rachel stole her father's household gods, the teraphim. Even though she could conceal them by hiding them under her camel's saddle (31:34), their powerlessness and inadequacy didn't occur to her. She wanted to hang onto them.
If we can be patient with Rachel (should we?), then we can understand why the author to the Hebrews makes his case the way he does. But we can also see why the message is so critical; why the references are beginning to build up, one on top of another. Now we are moving from the old point into a new one: Christ is superior to the angels, and Christ is superior to both Moses and priesthood, too.
Notice that Christ is called "the apostle" here as well as high priest. The word apostle is Greek, from a verb meaning "to send out with authority." The difference between a disciple and an apostle is that a disciple follows and learns, but an apostle is sent out on a mission with the authority of the one who sent him. Now it becomes clear why Jesus can be called an apostle. He himself said that he was sent out from the Father into the world. This occurs in every Gospel:
HEBREWS 3:3-6
3 πλείονος γὰρ οὗτος δόξης παρὰ Μωϋσῆν ἠξίωται καθ' ὅσον πλείονα τιμὴν ἔχει τοῦ οἴκου ὁ κατασκευάσας αὐτόν. 4 πᾶς γὰρ οἶκος κατασκευάζεται ὑπό τινος, ὁ δὲ πάντα κατασκευάσας θεός. 5 καὶ Μωϋσῆσμὲν πιστὸς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦὡς θεράπωνεἰς μαρτύριον τῶν λαληθησομένων, 6 Χριστὸς δὲ ὡς υἱὸς ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ· οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς, ἐὰν τὴν παρρησίαν καὶ τὸ καύχημα τῆς ἐλπίδος κατάσχωμεν.
3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
Christ is the builder of the house of faith; Moses is simply part of the house itself: Christ the creator; Moses one of the creation. Christ the Lord; Moses the servant. Christ over the house; Moses within the house. Christ the fulfillment; Moses only a preliminary message. And in Christ, the message is complete. There is no more revelation from God; there will be no additional testaments. The claims of the Mormons and others that they have "another testament of Jesus Christ" or some other divinely revealed document are silenced by words like these, but especially by the opening words of Hebrews: "In the past...God spoke" (the action of the past is completed and finished; the Greek tense indicates a fact completed in the past--the Old Testament scriptures) "and in these last days...he has spoken" (the action of the recent past--the ministry of Christ, completing the Divine message of forgiveness through faith in Christ alone--is now completed as well). Revelation is final. The words of Paul to Timothy also tell us that everything that we have in Scripture is adequate, complete, and final: we need nothing more (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
HEBREWS 3:7-11
Moses, one of the authors of the Scriptures through the Holy Spirit, is not greater than the supreme Author, not only of Scripture but also the author of our Salvation. Jesus stands alone, and Jesus reigns forever and ever.
7 Διό, καθὼς λέγει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον,
Σήμερον ἐὰν τῆς ϕωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε,
8 μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν
ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ,
κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ πειρασμοῦ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ,
9 οὗ ἐπείρασαν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν
ἐν δοκιμασίᾳ καὶ εἶδον τὰ ἔργα μου
10 τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη· διὸ προσώχθισα τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ
καὶ εἶπον, ᾽Αεὶ πλανῶνται τῇ καρδίᾳ·
αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τὰς ὁδούς μου·
11 ὡς ὤμοσα ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου,
Εἰ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσίν μου.
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
9 where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’” (cf. Psalm 95:7b-11, NIV)
In these verses, the author turns to Psalm 95, a poetic commentary of Exodus 17:1-17 and the rebellion at Rephidim. It is a warning against hardening the heart against God. Despite everything God did for them, forty years (a lifetime) of miracles and constant reminders in the wilderness, they still did not know God's ways.
Greek has two basic words for "knowing" a thing. One is oἶδα, to know something in your head, like knowing a mathematical fact. It's book learning. The other is γινώσκω (our word know is a descendant of this word), to know something because you've lived it or experienced it. That's the word here in verse 10, "they have not known my ways." Even though they had lived through God's grace and lived under his mercy for a lifetime, they didn't get it. How is that possible? I wonder that until I look in the mirror, and then I think of the mercy and patience God has shown with me--and of the rebellion of sin that's still there. But God shows us patience, and God shows us even more grace.
That grace and mercy of God urges us to sing his praises. The writer to the Hebrews already quoted the end of Psalm 95. For many of us, music will appear in our heads and our hearts if I just quote the first half of the psalm. In worship, we call this the Venite, the "O Come" song:
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord.
Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving,
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise.
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great king above all gods.
The deep places of the earth are in his hands:
the heights of the hills are also his.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hand formed the dry land.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
HEBREWS 3:12
12 Βλέπετε, ἀδελϕοί, μήποτε ἔσται ἔν τινι ὑμῶν καρδία πονηρὰ ἀπιστίας ἐν τῷ ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ζῶντος,
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
Although we can apply this verse to any kind of sin, it won't hurt to remind ourselves of the theme of the chapter: Do not let go of Christ as the sacrifice for all of our sins. The word for "turn away" here is the Greek word ἀποστῆναι, which in the form of a noun becomes our word apostasy, "falling away from faith." When the Hebrew believers seemed on the brink of returning to the Old Testament sacrifices in place of Christ, the direness of the situation became evident: Anything we do that turns away from Christ--even going back to the Law of Moses which prefigured Christ--actually rejects Christ. Or, as Paul told the Romans, everything that does not proceed from faith is sin. For us, to observe an Old Testament law but reject Christ would still be a sin.
We turn our hearts toward our living God, because of what Christ did for us. The glory of the birth of Jesus at Christmastime is the glory of God given to mankind. God gave us his Son because he loves us (John 3:16), but he also did it for his own sake. The Holy Spirit said through Micah, "But you, Bethlehem Ephratha, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel..." God gave us his Son for our sake, but also for the sake of his own name. God keeps every one of his promises, and he had promised the Messiah since the beginning of time to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and his descendants, to Judah, to David and Solomon, and finally to Joseph and Mary. And his Son came, for us.
The living God was born in a small town about five miles southwest of Jerusalem. Bethlehem means "house of bread." It lies on the main highway between Hebron and Egypt. It was also known as Ephratha to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in the north (in the tribal territory of Zebulun) about seven miles northwest of Nazareth. King David was born there, and anointed there as King of Israel. There was also a small caravan inn called Geruth Kimham in Bethlehem (Jeremiah 41:17) which was the starting place for many who journeyed to Egypt. Geruth Kimham was probably named for the man Kimham who crossed over the Jordan with King David after Absalom's rebellion (2 Sam. 19:31-40). Perhaps Kimham later set up an inn that still bore his name five hundred years later. It was probably the only inn in a town the size of Bethlehem, and so it is probably there that Joseph and Mary stopped to find a room.
There was no room in that inn for them, but we have made room for Christ in our hearts and our lives. Come, Lord Jesus.
HEBREWS 3:13
13 ἀλλὰ παρακαλεῖτε ἑαυτοὺς καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, ἄχρις οὗ τὸ Σήμερονκαλεῖται, ἵνα μὴ σκληρυνθῇ τις ἐξ ὑμῶν ἀπάτῃ τῆς ἁμαρτίας·
13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
The deceitfulness of sin. The Greek word ἀπάτῃ can have two different meanings, either of which could work here. First and maybe more commonly is "deceitfulness," as in Mark 4:19 ("the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things"), but there is also "pleasure," especially "sinful pleasure" or the pleasure that comes to some with sinning, as in 2 Peter 2:13 ("They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you"). Christians keep in contact, encouraging one another with the gracious gospel so that sin never becomes a pleasure, and so that we constantly keep the grace of God before our eyes.
HEBREWS 3:14-15
14 μέτοχοι γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γεγόναμεν, ἐάνπερ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ὑποστάσεως μέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν κατάσχωμεν, 15 ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι, Σήμερον ἐὰν τῆς ϕωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε, Μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ.
14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15 As has just been said:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.” (NIV)
Once again we hear the words of Psalm 95. The day that is "Today" will not last forever. While we are still here on the earth we have the moment to put our faith and trust in Christ. And by doing that we share in Christ.
What does it mean to share in Christ? It means to share in every one of his benefits: Eternal life, forgiveness, peace--all of these come to us because he has shared his holiness with us, he shared his life with us; he shared everything with us. He became a servant to serve us, and we give our service in return. We don't do it to earn salvation, but we do it to thank him. Thank him with your life.
HEBREWS 3:16-19
16 τίνες γὰρ ἀκούσαντες παρεπίκραναν; ἀλλ' οὐ πάντες οἱ ἐξελθόντες ἐξ Αἰγύπτου διὰ Μωϋσέως; 17 τίσιν δὲ προσώχθισεν τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη;οὐχὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτήσασιν, ὧν τὰ κῶλα ἔπεσεν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ; 18 τίσιν δὲ ὤμοσεν μὴ εἰσελεύσεσθαι εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν αὐτοῦεἰ μὴ τοῖς ἀπειθήσασιν; 19 καὶ βλέπομεν ὅτι οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν εἰσελθεῖν δι' ἀπιστίαν.
16 Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? 17 But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (NRSV)
Once again turning to the idea of Hebrew believers who turned away, the author of Hebrews recalls one of the most blatant rebellions against God in Scripture. The emphasis here is that rebellion against God condemns. It's a general picture, really: this happened in the past to God's own people at the foot of Mount Sinai and still can happen. They had all the marvelous miracles. They had the manna. But their carcasses fell like wild animals in the wilderness. Some of them might have repented (Aaron and Miriam and Moses himself, for example), but they didn't get where God told them they would get to, because of unbelief and doubt.
Now, you are on a journey, too. The writer urges us: Learn from the mistakes of the past and encourage one another. Put your faith in Christ alone and let anything else fall to the side of the road.
3 ῞Οθεν, ἀδελϕοὶ ἅγιοι, κλήσεως ἐπουρανίου μέτοχοι, κατανοήσατε τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν ᾽Ιησοῦν, 2 πιστὸν ὄντα τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτὸν ὡς καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ.
3 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. (NIV)
There is a moment in Genesis 31 where Jacob is leaving Laban with his wives and children and all of the herds and flocks he had obtained. As they were leaving, Jacob's wife Rachel stole her father's household gods, the teraphim. Even though she could conceal them by hiding them under her camel's saddle (31:34), their powerlessness and inadequacy didn't occur to her. She wanted to hang onto them.
If we can be patient with Rachel (should we?), then we can understand why the author to the Hebrews makes his case the way he does. But we can also see why the message is so critical; why the references are beginning to build up, one on top of another. Now we are moving from the old point into a new one: Christ is superior to the angels, and Christ is superior to both Moses and priesthood, too.
Notice that Christ is called "the apostle" here as well as high priest. The word apostle is Greek, from a verb meaning "to send out with authority." The difference between a disciple and an apostle is that a disciple follows and learns, but an apostle is sent out on a mission with the authority of the one who sent him. Now it becomes clear why Jesus can be called an apostle. He himself said that he was sent out from the Father into the world. This occurs in every Gospel:
Matthew 10:40, "The one who receives me receives the one who sent (Greek ἀποστείλαντά) me."Just as Moses led the people out of bondage in Egypt, gave the people God's word on the mountain, and brought them into the promised land, Jesus also freed mankind from the bondage of sin, gave us God's word in mountains, in valleys, in houses and on the roads, and finally brings us into the perfect promised rest of eternal life in heaven.
Mark 9:37, "Whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent (Greek ἀποστείλαντά) me."
Luke 9:48, "..the one who sent (Greek ἀποστείλαντά) me."
John 5:36, "For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent (Greek ἀπέσταλκεν) me."
HEBREWS 3:3-6
3 πλείονος γὰρ οὗτος δόξης παρὰ Μωϋσῆν ἠξίωται καθ' ὅσον πλείονα τιμὴν ἔχει τοῦ οἴκου ὁ κατασκευάσας αὐτόν. 4 πᾶς γὰρ οἶκος κατασκευάζεται ὑπό τινος, ὁ δὲ πάντα κατασκευάσας θεός. 5 καὶ Μωϋσῆσμὲν πιστὸς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦὡς θεράπωνεἰς μαρτύριον τῶν λαληθησομένων, 6 Χριστὸς δὲ ὡς υἱὸς ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ· οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς, ἐὰν τὴν παρρησίαν καὶ τὸ καύχημα τῆς ἐλπίδος κατάσχωμεν.
3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
Christ is the builder of the house of faith; Moses is simply part of the house itself: Christ the creator; Moses one of the creation. Christ the Lord; Moses the servant. Christ over the house; Moses within the house. Christ the fulfillment; Moses only a preliminary message. And in Christ, the message is complete. There is no more revelation from God; there will be no additional testaments. The claims of the Mormons and others that they have "another testament of Jesus Christ" or some other divinely revealed document are silenced by words like these, but especially by the opening words of Hebrews: "In the past...God spoke" (the action of the past is completed and finished; the Greek tense indicates a fact completed in the past--the Old Testament scriptures) "and in these last days...he has spoken" (the action of the recent past--the ministry of Christ, completing the Divine message of forgiveness through faith in Christ alone--is now completed as well). Revelation is final. The words of Paul to Timothy also tell us that everything that we have in Scripture is adequate, complete, and final: we need nothing more (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
HEBREWS 3:7-11
Moses, one of the authors of the Scriptures through the Holy Spirit, is not greater than the supreme Author, not only of Scripture but also the author of our Salvation. Jesus stands alone, and Jesus reigns forever and ever.
7 Διό, καθὼς λέγει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον,
Σήμερον ἐὰν τῆς ϕωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε,
8 μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν
ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ,
κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ πειρασμοῦ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ,
9 οὗ ἐπείρασαν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν
ἐν δοκιμασίᾳ καὶ εἶδον τὰ ἔργα μου
10 τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη· διὸ προσώχθισα τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ
καὶ εἶπον, ᾽Αεὶ πλανῶνται τῇ καρδίᾳ·
αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τὰς ὁδούς μου·
11 ὡς ὤμοσα ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου,
Εἰ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσίν μου.
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
9 where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’” (cf. Psalm 95:7b-11, NIV)
In these verses, the author turns to Psalm 95, a poetic commentary of Exodus 17:1-17 and the rebellion at Rephidim. It is a warning against hardening the heart against God. Despite everything God did for them, forty years (a lifetime) of miracles and constant reminders in the wilderness, they still did not know God's ways.
Greek has two basic words for "knowing" a thing. One is oἶδα, to know something in your head, like knowing a mathematical fact. It's book learning. The other is γινώσκω (our word know is a descendant of this word), to know something because you've lived it or experienced it. That's the word here in verse 10, "they have not known my ways." Even though they had lived through God's grace and lived under his mercy for a lifetime, they didn't get it. How is that possible? I wonder that until I look in the mirror, and then I think of the mercy and patience God has shown with me--and of the rebellion of sin that's still there. But God shows us patience, and God shows us even more grace.
That grace and mercy of God urges us to sing his praises. The writer to the Hebrews already quoted the end of Psalm 95. For many of us, music will appear in our heads and our hearts if I just quote the first half of the psalm. In worship, we call this the Venite, the "O Come" song:
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord.
Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving,
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise.
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great king above all gods.
The deep places of the earth are in his hands:
the heights of the hills are also his.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hand formed the dry land.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
HEBREWS 3:12
12 Βλέπετε, ἀδελϕοί, μήποτε ἔσται ἔν τινι ὑμῶν καρδία πονηρὰ ἀπιστίας ἐν τῷ ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ζῶντος,
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
Although we can apply this verse to any kind of sin, it won't hurt to remind ourselves of the theme of the chapter: Do not let go of Christ as the sacrifice for all of our sins. The word for "turn away" here is the Greek word ἀποστῆναι, which in the form of a noun becomes our word apostasy, "falling away from faith." When the Hebrew believers seemed on the brink of returning to the Old Testament sacrifices in place of Christ, the direness of the situation became evident: Anything we do that turns away from Christ--even going back to the Law of Moses which prefigured Christ--actually rejects Christ. Or, as Paul told the Romans, everything that does not proceed from faith is sin. For us, to observe an Old Testament law but reject Christ would still be a sin.
We turn our hearts toward our living God, because of what Christ did for us. The glory of the birth of Jesus at Christmastime is the glory of God given to mankind. God gave us his Son because he loves us (John 3:16), but he also did it for his own sake. The Holy Spirit said through Micah, "But you, Bethlehem Ephratha, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel..." God gave us his Son for our sake, but also for the sake of his own name. God keeps every one of his promises, and he had promised the Messiah since the beginning of time to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and his descendants, to Judah, to David and Solomon, and finally to Joseph and Mary. And his Son came, for us.
The living God was born in a small town about five miles southwest of Jerusalem. Bethlehem means "house of bread." It lies on the main highway between Hebron and Egypt. It was also known as Ephratha to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in the north (in the tribal territory of Zebulun) about seven miles northwest of Nazareth. King David was born there, and anointed there as King of Israel. There was also a small caravan inn called Geruth Kimham in Bethlehem (Jeremiah 41:17) which was the starting place for many who journeyed to Egypt. Geruth Kimham was probably named for the man Kimham who crossed over the Jordan with King David after Absalom's rebellion (2 Sam. 19:31-40). Perhaps Kimham later set up an inn that still bore his name five hundred years later. It was probably the only inn in a town the size of Bethlehem, and so it is probably there that Joseph and Mary stopped to find a room.
There was no room in that inn for them, but we have made room for Christ in our hearts and our lives. Come, Lord Jesus.
HEBREWS 3:13
13 ἀλλὰ παρακαλεῖτε ἑαυτοὺς καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, ἄχρις οὗ τὸ Σήμερονκαλεῖται, ἵνα μὴ σκληρυνθῇ τις ἐξ ὑμῶν ἀπάτῃ τῆς ἁμαρτίας·
13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
The deceitfulness of sin. The Greek word ἀπάτῃ can have two different meanings, either of which could work here. First and maybe more commonly is "deceitfulness," as in Mark 4:19 ("the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things"), but there is also "pleasure," especially "sinful pleasure" or the pleasure that comes to some with sinning, as in 2 Peter 2:13 ("They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you"). Christians keep in contact, encouraging one another with the gracious gospel so that sin never becomes a pleasure, and so that we constantly keep the grace of God before our eyes.
HEBREWS 3:14-15
14 μέτοχοι γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γεγόναμεν, ἐάνπερ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ὑποστάσεως μέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν κατάσχωμεν, 15 ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι, Σήμερον ἐὰν τῆς ϕωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε, Μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ.
14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15 As has just been said:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.” (NIV)
Once again we hear the words of Psalm 95. The day that is "Today" will not last forever. While we are still here on the earth we have the moment to put our faith and trust in Christ. And by doing that we share in Christ.
What does it mean to share in Christ? It means to share in every one of his benefits: Eternal life, forgiveness, peace--all of these come to us because he has shared his holiness with us, he shared his life with us; he shared everything with us. He became a servant to serve us, and we give our service in return. We don't do it to earn salvation, but we do it to thank him. Thank him with your life.
HEBREWS 3:16-19
16 τίνες γὰρ ἀκούσαντες παρεπίκραναν; ἀλλ' οὐ πάντες οἱ ἐξελθόντες ἐξ Αἰγύπτου διὰ Μωϋσέως; 17 τίσιν δὲ προσώχθισεν τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη;οὐχὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτήσασιν, ὧν τὰ κῶλα ἔπεσεν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ; 18 τίσιν δὲ ὤμοσεν μὴ εἰσελεύσεσθαι εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν αὐτοῦεἰ μὴ τοῖς ἀπειθήσασιν; 19 καὶ βλέπομεν ὅτι οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν εἰσελθεῖν δι' ἀπιστίαν.
16 Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? 17 But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (NRSV)
Once again turning to the idea of Hebrew believers who turned away, the author of Hebrews recalls one of the most blatant rebellions against God in Scripture. The emphasis here is that rebellion against God condemns. It's a general picture, really: this happened in the past to God's own people at the foot of Mount Sinai and still can happen. They had all the marvelous miracles. They had the manna. But their carcasses fell like wild animals in the wilderness. Some of them might have repented (Aaron and Miriam and Moses himself, for example), but they didn't get where God told them they would get to, because of unbelief and doubt.
Now, you are on a journey, too. The writer urges us: Learn from the mistakes of the past and encourage one another. Put your faith in Christ alone and let anything else fall to the side of the road.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Hebrews 2:1-18
HEBREWS 2:1
2 Διὰ τοῦτο δεῖ περισσοτέρως προσέχειν ἡμᾶς τοῖς ἀκουσϑεῖσιν, μήποτε παραρυῶμεν.
2 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (NIV)
One of the foremost teachers of doctrine living today is Dr. John F. Brug of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. I sat at the feet of Professor Brug both at Dr. Martin Luther College in 1982 and again during my years at the seminary from 1995-1999. Something that Pastor Brug taught us over and over again was that whenever we encounter the word "Therefore" in the Bible, we need to ask what it's "there for." The word "therefore" connects the sentence and the chapter we are entering with the words that came before. In this case, "therefore" connects all of chapter 2 with all of chapter 1.
In chapter 1, we saw Jesus' superiority to the angels, and that Jesus is "the exact representation of God's glory." Now the angels--though inferior to Jesus--are presented as having been present at the giving of the Law. But here, remembering that the point of the letter is Christ's superiority, "we must pay careful attention to what we have heard." This special thing is the message of the gospel, for the angels took their humble part in the giving of the law, but Christ is superior, and his message is superior to the law. For the law of God condemns us, but the gospel of Jesus Christ saves.
It is from this gospel that we must take care not to "drift away," as the author so elegantly puts it with the word para-rheo, "to slip or float away." We do this by staying grounded in the gospel. Perhaps it is true that once you learn to ride a bicycle you never forget. But the gospel is not a bicycle, and something as precious and as unexpected as the gospel will keep surprising us, keep stunning us, keep throwing us for a loop each and every time we hear it, because we have something inside our sinful nature that fights against it.
That "something" is the human's "opinion of the law," or opinio legis (a Latin term), meaning that we tend to think that we can somehow keep the law of God to earn our salvation. The law of God in its narrow sense cannot get us to heaven. The law kills us and condemns us. The law promises salvation conditionally if we keep it perfectly--not partially or with a good try. And the law commands us to obey, but does nothing to help us obey. The law is powerless to help us to keep its most elementary and basic requirement. That is why the gospel of Jesus Christ is so necessary. And what is why only the gospel of Jesus Christ saves.
The gospel presents the message of what Jesus has done for us, by obeying every command from God (his active obedience) and by becoming the sacrifice to atone for our sins (his passive obedience). The gospel message of Jesus Christ promises us salvation--eternal life in heaven--unconditionally. There is no "if" about Jesus. There is only "yes." And finally, the gospel of Jesus Christ invites our faith and even provides that faith for us, creating it in our hearts through the Word of God and through the sacraments.
Baptism gives forgiveness of sins and saves. The Lord's Supper gives forgiveness of sins and saves. The gospel itself gives forgiveness of sins and saves. These are the Means of Grace, the gospel in word and sacrament, that holds out eternal life to each and every one of us. Without it, we begin to drift off like so many planks from a sunken ship.
What we have heard and read is the we are saved through Jesus Christ. Take time this week to get into your Bible and into your church to hear the saving message of Jesus once again. Let the Lord's Supper fill your soul with the forgiveness of Jesus himself. Let the message of Jesus' death and resurrection fill your heart with the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life.
Pay careful attention to what you have heard. There is no other life buoy that saves. It is Jesus himself who keeps us from para-rheo, from slipping away.
HEBREWS 2:2-3
2 εἰ γὰρ ὁ δι' ἀγγέλων λαληϑεὶς λόγος ἐγένετο βέβαιος, καὶ πᾶσα παράβασις καὶ παρακοὴ ἔλαβεν ἔνδικον μισϑαποδοσίαν, 3 πῶς ἡμεῖς ἐκϕευξόμεϑα τηλικαύτης ἀμελήσαντες σωτηρίας; ἥτις, ἀρχὴν λαβοῦσα λαλεῖσϑαι διὰ τοῦ κυρίου, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀκουσάντων εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐβεβαιώϑη,
2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. (NIV)
The argument presented here is a simple logical proposition. If I can label the "message spoken by angels" as (a: the law = punishment), and the "great salvation" announced by the Lord as (b: salvation), then the proposition is this: If (a) is true (and it is), but we might reject (b), then how can we possibly escape (a)? We can't.
More than that, the general theme of the first chapter and a half continues here: Christ is superior to the angels. The message of punishment was delivered through angels, but the message of salvation--by far the greater message--was spoken by the Lord.
The message of salvation is the greater message because there are people in the world who were never bound by the Law of Moses because they never ever heard it. They were still sinful, but they were not under the Covenant. Yet the message of Christ covers over all sins, whether they were committed by those under the old covenant or not. Christ trumps everything. Christ is the rescue from all sins, from death, and from the devil himself.
In these verses and those that follow, we are given at least four reasons for not "ignoring" such a great salvation. The first two lie before us here:
(1) It was spoken directly by the Lord.
(2) It was confirmed by those who heard the Lord.
When the author says "(it) was confirmed to us by those who heard him," he is letting us know something about himself. He is not one of the Twelve Apostles. He is a man who came to faith later on, and is now in the second wave so to speak of Christian preachers and teachers. We also know because of the way he talks about Jews that he was a Jew himself. And from the way he uses the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it would appear that he was either very well versed from a Greek synagogue or was actually from Alexandria, where the Septuagint was translated and used exclusively. The Alexandrian connection might also be underscored by his eloquence, since Alexandria was such a great center of learning.
The possibilities for authorship would include Apollos and Paul, as I mentioned in an earlier devotion, but also several others: Barnabas, Silas, Aquila and Priscilla (perhaps writing as a team), and others. Paul's authorship of Hebrews is sometimes questioned because of the style and language, as well as the omission of his name. But there might be a very good explanation for all of those things. Hebrews isn't really an "epistle" at all. It's a sermon. When a sermon is composed, it usually follows a different path we would expect to find in a letter. In his epistles, Paul is passionate, logical, prone to wandering off on tangents, and yet he is always very conscious of who he is and who he is writing to. But Hebrews appears to be a sermon, which would have been preached rather than mailed. Here the writer has a theme which he develops through Scriptural examples (other very early Christian sermons also exist, such as 2 Clement and the final anonymous chapters of the Letter to Diognetus). For this reason, I would hesitate to rule out Paul as author, but I would also never insist on Paul as author, either. Other anonymously written books of the Bible do not bother us (Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, Esther, Job, Psalm 93, etc.).
Whoever the author was, the message is the inspired word of God, and the message is crystal clear: The great salvation won for us by Jesus is ours, and it shall be ours forever.
HEBREWS 2:4
4 συνεπιμαρτυροῦντος τοῦ ϑεοῦ σημείοις τε καὶ τέρασιν καὶ ποικίλαις δυνάμεσιν καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου μερισμοῖς κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ ϑέλησιν.
4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
In this verse, we given two more reasons why we should never ignore "such a great salvation."
(3) It was confirmed by God himself in signs, wonders and miracles.
(4) It was confirmed by the distribution of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The distinction of "signs, wonders and miracles" may not always be drawn clearly, and perhaps it doesn't need to be. But there is a little bit of a difference between the three.
"Signs" (semeiois, σημείοις) point something out. These would include the kind of miracles that Moses and Aaron performed before Pharaoh (Exodus 4:1-8). When Jesus was asked repeatedly for this kind of "sign" by the Pharisees and others, he refused to indulge them but let them know that they would have the "sign of Jonah" (Matthew 16:4), which was of course his own resurrection from the dead after three days in the tomb. The healing of the official's son in Cana (John 4:54) is also called a sign.
"Wonders" (terasin, τέρασιν) have a "Wow!" factor; they attract attention. The miracles performed by the apostles in early days after Jesus' ascension were called wonders (Acts 2:43).
"Miracles" (dynamesin, δυνάμεσιν). This is also the word in 2 Thess. 2:9, Acts 2:22 and 2 Cor. 12:12; often paired with "signs." This is an outward, physical expression of power. It shows that there is authority behind what happens: the authority comes from God himself. This is a word associated especially with the expulsion of demons (Luke 4:36; Acts 10:38) and to healing. These things were done to show God's approval on the message being proclaimed: the message of Jesus Christ.
The final reason for us never to ignore our salvation is the distribution of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts included the ability to preach, to interpret Scripture, to give offerings to God without grumbling, to be an administrator working behind the scenes in the church, and other signs like speaking in tongues or prophecy which became less and less frequent as the New Testament age began to unfold and as the New Testament itself came to be written down and shared with people.
Such a great salvation, testified to by God himself, proclaiming to us all the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection from the dead through Jesus our Savior.
HEBREWS 2:5-9
Someone who knows his Old Testament very well might nod in appreciation with what has been said so far about Jesus being superior to the angels. But then he might remember the words of Psalm 8, in which the "son of man" (a title Jesus often used for himself) is said to be "a little lower than the angels." The writer to the Hebrews anticipates this and answers it:
5 Οὐ γὰρ ἀγγέλοις ὑπέταξεν τὴν οἰκουμένην τὴν μέλλουσαν, περὶ ἧς λαλοῦμεν. 6 διεμαρτύρατο δέ πού τις λέγων, Τί ἐστιν ἄνϑρωπος ὅτι μιμνῄσκῃ αὐτοῦ, ἢ υἱὸς ἀνϑρώπου ὅτι ἐπισκέπτῃ αὐτόν; 7 ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρ' ἀγγέλους, δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεϕάνωσας αὐτόν, 8 πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ.ἐν τῷ γὰρ ὑποτάξαι [αὐτῷ] τὰ πάντα οὐδὲν ἀϕῆκεν αὐτῷ ἀνυπότακτον. νῦν δὲ οὔπω ὁρῶμεν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ὑποτεταγμένα· 9 τὸν δὲ βραχύ τι παρ' ἀγγέλους ἠλαττωμένον βλέπομεν ᾽Ιησοῦν διὰ τὸ πάϑημα τοῦ ϑανάτου δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεϕανωμένον,ὅπως χάριτι ϑεοῦ ὑπὲρ παντὸς γεύσηται ϑανάτου.
5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels;
you crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet.”
In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (NIV)
All of the things in Psalm 8 remind us of what God wanted mankind to be. Here in Hebrews 2, these words are applied to Jesus (Paul touches this Psalm as well in 1 Corinthians 15:27). The dominion and responsibility over the earth was given to all mankind (Genesis 1:26-27) but when Adam sinned, all mankind sinned. We have all sinned and we have all failed.
Our sins aren't just in the way we treat our world, or the creatures of this world, or even each other. Or even ourselves. Those sins are bad enough. But we also sin against and mistreat God himself. And for all these things, we are condemned. But God condescended to enter our world as an infant, a son of man through his mother Mary, and he became the sacrifice for our failings and for our sins.
So Jesus being made "lower than the angels" isn't because of a flaw in Jesus, it's because of a flaw in mankind. There are times when a parent must do things out of love for a baby that no other person would ever imagine having to do. Jesus had to get his hands right down into the goo of our lives in order to get us cleaned up and to rescue us from our sins. It was out of love for us that he did this.
Now, how majestic is his name? How can we help but ask the Son of Man, "Who am I, that you are mindful of me?" But he is mindful of every single one of us: His sacrifice paid for the sins of us all. He suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. That means that although we will briefly taste death ourselves, Jesus will raise us from death and into eternal life.
He has saved us. Our sins are washed away.
HEBREWS 2:10-13
10 ῎Επρεπεν γὰρ αὐτῷ, δι' ὃν τὰ πάντα καὶ δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα, πολλοὺς υἱοὺς εἰς δόξαν ἀγαγόντα τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῶν διὰ παϑημάτων τελειῶσαι. 11 ὁ τε γὰρ ἁγιάζων καὶ οἱ ἁγιαζόμενοι ἐξ ἑνὸς πάντες· δι' ἣν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεται ἀδελϕοὺς αὐτοὺς καλεῖν, 12 λέγων, ᾽Απαγγελῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελϕοῖς μου, ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας ὑμνήσω σε· 13 καὶ πάλιν, ᾽Εγὼ ἔσομαι πεποιϑὼς ἐπ' αὐτῷ·καὶ πάλιν, ᾽Ιδοὺ ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία ἅ μοι ἔδωκεν ὁ ϑεός.
10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12 He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”
13 And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again he says,
“Here am I, and the children God has given me.” (NIV)
The point of these quotations (Psalm 22:22 and Isaiah 8:17 and 18) is to show that the perfection of Jesus has been given to us. The suffering of Christ on the cross canceled the debt of sin for all time. We do not enter into God's house in terror of having our sins found out; we enter into God's house with God's Son.
Picture a home on a sunny afternoon. Suddenly strangers start coming in -- police are called; they cannot be there. The law would come into play. But what if children unknown to the parents arrive, but with the child, the son, of the house? "Mom, dad, these are my friends." Suddenly, the law no longer comes into play because the son has brought his friends home. The parents treat the new boys as honored guests and with the same privileges as their own child, not because they know these children or because these children have earned anything, but because they love their son.
Although this picture can describe our relationship with the Father and the Son of God, we have an even greater status than friends of the Son, because he also calls us "brothers," and we are now the children of God.
This is what Jesus has given to us: We are atoned for; we are at one with God. Our forgiveness is exactly our new status: Forgiven.
HEBREWS 2:14-16
14 ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ παιδία κεκοινώνηκεν αἵματος καὶ σαρκός, καὶ αὐτὸς παραπλησίως μετέσχεν τῶν αὐτῶν, ἵνα διὰ τοῦ ϑανάτου καταργήσῃ τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ ϑανάτου, τοῦτ' ἔστιν τὸν διάβολον, 15 καὶ ἀπαλλάξῃ τούτους, ὅσοι ϕόβῳ ϑανάτου διὰ παντὸς τοῦ ζῆν ἔνοχοι ἦσαν δουλείας. 16 οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἀγγέλων ἐπιλαμβάνεται, ἀλλὰ σπέρματος ᾽Αβραὰμ ἐπιλαμβάνεται.
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that is, the devil-- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants.
All through chapter 2, we have seen that Jesus became a human being because we ourselves are human. He did this "so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone" (2:9). No angel did this, and the thought continues that this is yet another reason why Christ is superior to everything and everyone, including the angels themselves. Christ's sacrifice did two things: He destroyed the power of the devil (and the power of death) and he set us free from our slavery to sin, death and the devil.
Look carefully at the word "free" in verse 15. The Greek word has an extra prefix that augments the meaning slightly, so that it means "to set free or change by taking away or by physical removal." The doors of our slavery have not just been flung open. As with Lot and his daughters, we have been snatched from the village of sin by the hand and pulled out of the ruin as destruction rained down from heaven (Genesis 19:16).
Ninety years ago (1919), the pastor who had served as president of the Lutheran college in my city (New Ulm, Minnesota) talked about this word "free" in verse 15:
HEBREWS 2:17-18
17 ὅϑεν ὤϕειλεν κατὰ πάντα τοῖς ἀδελϕοῖς ὁμοιωϑῆναι, ἵνα ἐλεήμων γένηται καὶ πιστὸς ἀρχιερεὺς τὰ πρὸς τὸν ϑεόν, εἰς τὸ ἱλάσκεσϑαι τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ λαοῦ· 18 ἐν ᾧ γὰρ πέπονϑεν αὐτὸς πειρασϑείς, δύναται τοῖς πειραζομένοις βοηϑῆσαι.
17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (NIV)
For the first time, we have a reference to Christ as "a faithful high priest." This will be developed more in this letter. The picture if of a priest offering sacrifices to appease the wrath of God. But Jesus didn't do this with the blood of mere animals, so that sacrifice after sacrifice would have to be made, or so that a limited, unbloody sacrifice would do nothing except stave of God's wrath over sin for a mere moment or two. He became the perfect high priest, offering his own life on the cross to put an end to God's anger for all time and for all eternity. He could not die unless he were human, and so Jesus became human. He became "like his brothers in every way," permitting himself to be conceived, to grow in his mother's womb, to experience the ordeal of childbirth, to suffer the indignities of being a helpless infant, and then to grow and learn and develop physically and even spiritually. He did all of it with no sin, but he did not do it without pain and suffering.
He did it to rescue us from our sins. He was merciful to us, his brothers and sisters, and he was also faithful to his Father in heaven. Look closely at the verb "to help" in verse 18. In Greek, it's in the present tense. That means that Jesus helps us now, in this moment, and always. It's the same word that occurs in Mark 9:24, when a hurting father cried out to Jesus, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
Jesus helps us in all things, and he has already given us the most important help we need: the forgiveness of our sins. Ask for his help with what troubles you today, and trust him.
2 Διὰ τοῦτο δεῖ περισσοτέρως προσέχειν ἡμᾶς τοῖς ἀκουσϑεῖσιν, μήποτε παραρυῶμεν.
2 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (NIV)
One of the foremost teachers of doctrine living today is Dr. John F. Brug of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. I sat at the feet of Professor Brug both at Dr. Martin Luther College in 1982 and again during my years at the seminary from 1995-1999. Something that Pastor Brug taught us over and over again was that whenever we encounter the word "Therefore" in the Bible, we need to ask what it's "there for." The word "therefore" connects the sentence and the chapter we are entering with the words that came before. In this case, "therefore" connects all of chapter 2 with all of chapter 1.
In chapter 1, we saw Jesus' superiority to the angels, and that Jesus is "the exact representation of God's glory." Now the angels--though inferior to Jesus--are presented as having been present at the giving of the Law. But here, remembering that the point of the letter is Christ's superiority, "we must pay careful attention to what we have heard." This special thing is the message of the gospel, for the angels took their humble part in the giving of the law, but Christ is superior, and his message is superior to the law. For the law of God condemns us, but the gospel of Jesus Christ saves.
It is from this gospel that we must take care not to "drift away," as the author so elegantly puts it with the word para-rheo, "to slip or float away." We do this by staying grounded in the gospel. Perhaps it is true that once you learn to ride a bicycle you never forget. But the gospel is not a bicycle, and something as precious and as unexpected as the gospel will keep surprising us, keep stunning us, keep throwing us for a loop each and every time we hear it, because we have something inside our sinful nature that fights against it.
That "something" is the human's "opinion of the law," or opinio legis (a Latin term), meaning that we tend to think that we can somehow keep the law of God to earn our salvation. The law of God in its narrow sense cannot get us to heaven. The law kills us and condemns us. The law promises salvation conditionally if we keep it perfectly--not partially or with a good try. And the law commands us to obey, but does nothing to help us obey. The law is powerless to help us to keep its most elementary and basic requirement. That is why the gospel of Jesus Christ is so necessary. And what is why only the gospel of Jesus Christ saves.
The gospel presents the message of what Jesus has done for us, by obeying every command from God (his active obedience) and by becoming the sacrifice to atone for our sins (his passive obedience). The gospel message of Jesus Christ promises us salvation--eternal life in heaven--unconditionally. There is no "if" about Jesus. There is only "yes." And finally, the gospel of Jesus Christ invites our faith and even provides that faith for us, creating it in our hearts through the Word of God and through the sacraments.
Baptism gives forgiveness of sins and saves. The Lord's Supper gives forgiveness of sins and saves. The gospel itself gives forgiveness of sins and saves. These are the Means of Grace, the gospel in word and sacrament, that holds out eternal life to each and every one of us. Without it, we begin to drift off like so many planks from a sunken ship.
What we have heard and read is the we are saved through Jesus Christ. Take time this week to get into your Bible and into your church to hear the saving message of Jesus once again. Let the Lord's Supper fill your soul with the forgiveness of Jesus himself. Let the message of Jesus' death and resurrection fill your heart with the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life.
Pay careful attention to what you have heard. There is no other life buoy that saves. It is Jesus himself who keeps us from para-rheo, from slipping away.
HEBREWS 2:2-3
2 εἰ γὰρ ὁ δι' ἀγγέλων λαληϑεὶς λόγος ἐγένετο βέβαιος, καὶ πᾶσα παράβασις καὶ παρακοὴ ἔλαβεν ἔνδικον μισϑαποδοσίαν, 3 πῶς ἡμεῖς ἐκϕευξόμεϑα τηλικαύτης ἀμελήσαντες σωτηρίας; ἥτις, ἀρχὴν λαβοῦσα λαλεῖσϑαι διὰ τοῦ κυρίου, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀκουσάντων εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐβεβαιώϑη,
2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. (NIV)
The argument presented here is a simple logical proposition. If I can label the "message spoken by angels" as (a: the law = punishment), and the "great salvation" announced by the Lord as (b: salvation), then the proposition is this: If (a) is true (and it is), but we might reject (b), then how can we possibly escape (a)? We can't.
More than that, the general theme of the first chapter and a half continues here: Christ is superior to the angels. The message of punishment was delivered through angels, but the message of salvation--by far the greater message--was spoken by the Lord.
The message of salvation is the greater message because there are people in the world who were never bound by the Law of Moses because they never ever heard it. They were still sinful, but they were not under the Covenant. Yet the message of Christ covers over all sins, whether they were committed by those under the old covenant or not. Christ trumps everything. Christ is the rescue from all sins, from death, and from the devil himself.
In these verses and those that follow, we are given at least four reasons for not "ignoring" such a great salvation. The first two lie before us here:
(1) It was spoken directly by the Lord.
(2) It was confirmed by those who heard the Lord.
When the author says "(it) was confirmed to us by those who heard him," he is letting us know something about himself. He is not one of the Twelve Apostles. He is a man who came to faith later on, and is now in the second wave so to speak of Christian preachers and teachers. We also know because of the way he talks about Jews that he was a Jew himself. And from the way he uses the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it would appear that he was either very well versed from a Greek synagogue or was actually from Alexandria, where the Septuagint was translated and used exclusively. The Alexandrian connection might also be underscored by his eloquence, since Alexandria was such a great center of learning.
The possibilities for authorship would include Apollos and Paul, as I mentioned in an earlier devotion, but also several others: Barnabas, Silas, Aquila and Priscilla (perhaps writing as a team), and others. Paul's authorship of Hebrews is sometimes questioned because of the style and language, as well as the omission of his name. But there might be a very good explanation for all of those things. Hebrews isn't really an "epistle" at all. It's a sermon. When a sermon is composed, it usually follows a different path we would expect to find in a letter. In his epistles, Paul is passionate, logical, prone to wandering off on tangents, and yet he is always very conscious of who he is and who he is writing to. But Hebrews appears to be a sermon, which would have been preached rather than mailed. Here the writer has a theme which he develops through Scriptural examples (other very early Christian sermons also exist, such as 2 Clement and the final anonymous chapters of the Letter to Diognetus). For this reason, I would hesitate to rule out Paul as author, but I would also never insist on Paul as author, either. Other anonymously written books of the Bible do not bother us (Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, Esther, Job, Psalm 93, etc.).
Whoever the author was, the message is the inspired word of God, and the message is crystal clear: The great salvation won for us by Jesus is ours, and it shall be ours forever.
HEBREWS 2:4
4 συνεπιμαρτυροῦντος τοῦ ϑεοῦ σημείοις τε καὶ τέρασιν καὶ ποικίλαις δυνάμεσιν καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου μερισμοῖς κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ ϑέλησιν.
4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
In this verse, we given two more reasons why we should never ignore "such a great salvation."
(3) It was confirmed by God himself in signs, wonders and miracles.
(4) It was confirmed by the distribution of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The distinction of "signs, wonders and miracles" may not always be drawn clearly, and perhaps it doesn't need to be. But there is a little bit of a difference between the three.
"Signs" (semeiois, σημείοις) point something out. These would include the kind of miracles that Moses and Aaron performed before Pharaoh (Exodus 4:1-8). When Jesus was asked repeatedly for this kind of "sign" by the Pharisees and others, he refused to indulge them but let them know that they would have the "sign of Jonah" (Matthew 16:4), which was of course his own resurrection from the dead after three days in the tomb. The healing of the official's son in Cana (John 4:54) is also called a sign.
"Wonders" (terasin, τέρασιν) have a "Wow!" factor; they attract attention. The miracles performed by the apostles in early days after Jesus' ascension were called wonders (Acts 2:43).
"Miracles" (dynamesin, δυνάμεσιν). This is also the word in 2 Thess. 2:9, Acts 2:22 and 2 Cor. 12:12; often paired with "signs." This is an outward, physical expression of power. It shows that there is authority behind what happens: the authority comes from God himself. This is a word associated especially with the expulsion of demons (Luke 4:36; Acts 10:38) and to healing. These things were done to show God's approval on the message being proclaimed: the message of Jesus Christ.
The final reason for us never to ignore our salvation is the distribution of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts included the ability to preach, to interpret Scripture, to give offerings to God without grumbling, to be an administrator working behind the scenes in the church, and other signs like speaking in tongues or prophecy which became less and less frequent as the New Testament age began to unfold and as the New Testament itself came to be written down and shared with people.
Such a great salvation, testified to by God himself, proclaiming to us all the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection from the dead through Jesus our Savior.
HEBREWS 2:5-9
Someone who knows his Old Testament very well might nod in appreciation with what has been said so far about Jesus being superior to the angels. But then he might remember the words of Psalm 8, in which the "son of man" (a title Jesus often used for himself) is said to be "a little lower than the angels." The writer to the Hebrews anticipates this and answers it:
5 Οὐ γὰρ ἀγγέλοις ὑπέταξεν τὴν οἰκουμένην τὴν μέλλουσαν, περὶ ἧς λαλοῦμεν. 6 διεμαρτύρατο δέ πού τις λέγων, Τί ἐστιν ἄνϑρωπος ὅτι μιμνῄσκῃ αὐτοῦ, ἢ υἱὸς ἀνϑρώπου ὅτι ἐπισκέπτῃ αὐτόν; 7 ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρ' ἀγγέλους, δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεϕάνωσας αὐτόν, 8 πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ.ἐν τῷ γὰρ ὑποτάξαι [αὐτῷ] τὰ πάντα οὐδὲν ἀϕῆκεν αὐτῷ ἀνυπότακτον. νῦν δὲ οὔπω ὁρῶμεν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ὑποτεταγμένα· 9 τὸν δὲ βραχύ τι παρ' ἀγγέλους ἠλαττωμένον βλέπομεν ᾽Ιησοῦν διὰ τὸ πάϑημα τοῦ ϑανάτου δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεϕανωμένον,ὅπως χάριτι ϑεοῦ ὑπὲρ παντὸς γεύσηται ϑανάτου.
5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels;
you crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet.”
In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (NIV)
All of the things in Psalm 8 remind us of what God wanted mankind to be. Here in Hebrews 2, these words are applied to Jesus (Paul touches this Psalm as well in 1 Corinthians 15:27). The dominion and responsibility over the earth was given to all mankind (Genesis 1:26-27) but when Adam sinned, all mankind sinned. We have all sinned and we have all failed.
Our sins aren't just in the way we treat our world, or the creatures of this world, or even each other. Or even ourselves. Those sins are bad enough. But we also sin against and mistreat God himself. And for all these things, we are condemned. But God condescended to enter our world as an infant, a son of man through his mother Mary, and he became the sacrifice for our failings and for our sins.
So Jesus being made "lower than the angels" isn't because of a flaw in Jesus, it's because of a flaw in mankind. There are times when a parent must do things out of love for a baby that no other person would ever imagine having to do. Jesus had to get his hands right down into the goo of our lives in order to get us cleaned up and to rescue us from our sins. It was out of love for us that he did this.
Now, how majestic is his name? How can we help but ask the Son of Man, "Who am I, that you are mindful of me?" But he is mindful of every single one of us: His sacrifice paid for the sins of us all. He suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. That means that although we will briefly taste death ourselves, Jesus will raise us from death and into eternal life.
He has saved us. Our sins are washed away.
HEBREWS 2:10-13
10 ῎Επρεπεν γὰρ αὐτῷ, δι' ὃν τὰ πάντα καὶ δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα, πολλοὺς υἱοὺς εἰς δόξαν ἀγαγόντα τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῶν διὰ παϑημάτων τελειῶσαι. 11 ὁ τε γὰρ ἁγιάζων καὶ οἱ ἁγιαζόμενοι ἐξ ἑνὸς πάντες· δι' ἣν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεται ἀδελϕοὺς αὐτοὺς καλεῖν, 12 λέγων, ᾽Απαγγελῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελϕοῖς μου, ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας ὑμνήσω σε· 13 καὶ πάλιν, ᾽Εγὼ ἔσομαι πεποιϑὼς ἐπ' αὐτῷ·καὶ πάλιν, ᾽Ιδοὺ ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία ἅ μοι ἔδωκεν ὁ ϑεός.
10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12 He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”
13 And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again he says,
“Here am I, and the children God has given me.” (NIV)
The point of these quotations (Psalm 22:22 and Isaiah 8:17 and 18) is to show that the perfection of Jesus has been given to us. The suffering of Christ on the cross canceled the debt of sin for all time. We do not enter into God's house in terror of having our sins found out; we enter into God's house with God's Son.
Picture a home on a sunny afternoon. Suddenly strangers start coming in -- police are called; they cannot be there. The law would come into play. But what if children unknown to the parents arrive, but with the child, the son, of the house? "Mom, dad, these are my friends." Suddenly, the law no longer comes into play because the son has brought his friends home. The parents treat the new boys as honored guests and with the same privileges as their own child, not because they know these children or because these children have earned anything, but because they love their son.
Although this picture can describe our relationship with the Father and the Son of God, we have an even greater status than friends of the Son, because he also calls us "brothers," and we are now the children of God.
This is what Jesus has given to us: We are atoned for; we are at one with God. Our forgiveness is exactly our new status: Forgiven.
HEBREWS 2:14-16
14 ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ παιδία κεκοινώνηκεν αἵματος καὶ σαρκός, καὶ αὐτὸς παραπλησίως μετέσχεν τῶν αὐτῶν, ἵνα διὰ τοῦ ϑανάτου καταργήσῃ τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ ϑανάτου, τοῦτ' ἔστιν τὸν διάβολον, 15 καὶ ἀπαλλάξῃ τούτους, ὅσοι ϕόβῳ ϑανάτου διὰ παντὸς τοῦ ζῆν ἔνοχοι ἦσαν δουλείας. 16 οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἀγγέλων ἐπιλαμβάνεται, ἀλλὰ σπέρματος ᾽Αβραὰμ ἐπιλαμβάνεται.
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that is, the devil-- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants.
All through chapter 2, we have seen that Jesus became a human being because we ourselves are human. He did this "so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone" (2:9). No angel did this, and the thought continues that this is yet another reason why Christ is superior to everything and everyone, including the angels themselves. Christ's sacrifice did two things: He destroyed the power of the devil (and the power of death) and he set us free from our slavery to sin, death and the devil.
Look carefully at the word "free" in verse 15. The Greek word has an extra prefix that augments the meaning slightly, so that it means "to set free or change by taking away or by physical removal." The doors of our slavery have not just been flung open. As with Lot and his daughters, we have been snatched from the village of sin by the hand and pulled out of the ruin as destruction rained down from heaven (Genesis 19:16).
Ninety years ago (1919), the pastor who had served as president of the Lutheran college in my city (New Ulm, Minnesota) talked about this word "free" in verse 15:
Through this taking away, Christ changed the relationship to death of those who had been slaves of death: He freed them from the fear of death. (Prof. John Schaller)We are free from death, and we are even free from the fear of death, because what lies beyond the stepping stone of the grave is greater and more wonderful than anything we can imagine. And its ours in Jesus.
HEBREWS 2:17-18
17 ὅϑεν ὤϕειλεν κατὰ πάντα τοῖς ἀδελϕοῖς ὁμοιωϑῆναι, ἵνα ἐλεήμων γένηται καὶ πιστὸς ἀρχιερεὺς τὰ πρὸς τὸν ϑεόν, εἰς τὸ ἱλάσκεσϑαι τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ λαοῦ· 18 ἐν ᾧ γὰρ πέπονϑεν αὐτὸς πειρασϑείς, δύναται τοῖς πειραζομένοις βοηϑῆσαι.
17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (NIV)
For the first time, we have a reference to Christ as "a faithful high priest." This will be developed more in this letter. The picture if of a priest offering sacrifices to appease the wrath of God. But Jesus didn't do this with the blood of mere animals, so that sacrifice after sacrifice would have to be made, or so that a limited, unbloody sacrifice would do nothing except stave of God's wrath over sin for a mere moment or two. He became the perfect high priest, offering his own life on the cross to put an end to God's anger for all time and for all eternity. He could not die unless he were human, and so Jesus became human. He became "like his brothers in every way," permitting himself to be conceived, to grow in his mother's womb, to experience the ordeal of childbirth, to suffer the indignities of being a helpless infant, and then to grow and learn and develop physically and even spiritually. He did all of it with no sin, but he did not do it without pain and suffering.
He did it to rescue us from our sins. He was merciful to us, his brothers and sisters, and he was also faithful to his Father in heaven. Look closely at the verb "to help" in verse 18. In Greek, it's in the present tense. That means that Jesus helps us now, in this moment, and always. It's the same word that occurs in Mark 9:24, when a hurting father cried out to Jesus, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
Jesus helps us in all things, and he has already given us the most important help we need: the forgiveness of our sins. Ask for his help with what troubles you today, and trust him.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Hebrews 1:1-14
The Book of Hebrews does not reveal its author's name to us, but it does tell us something about him. Based on the grammar of 11:32, we know that he was a male, and based on some statements in the letter (e.g. 2:3) we infer that he was not one of the Twelve Apostles, nor did he hear Jesus during his earthly ministry. One likely candidate is Barnabas (the letter even makes a play on Barnabas' name "Son of Encouragement" or "...of exhortation" when it states "my word of exhortation" in one of the final verses (13:22). Another possible author is Apollos, whose name was first suggested by Martin Luther and who is favored by many scholars today. Much of the language is similar to Clement of Rome, the author of the letter we call 1 Clement, written about the same time John was writing his gospel (90-95 AD). But Clement might be disqualified as author since he actually quotes several sections of Hebrews as Scripture (but Clement's letter permits us to assign a very early date to the writing of Hebrews, along with the rest of the New Testament). Finally, I will not rule out Paul, whose authorship was favored by the ancient church.
The theme of the book is "Christ is Superior" -- superior to the angels, to the priests, to Moses, and to every hero of the faith in history.
A simple outline of the book might be:
I. Christ is superior to the leaders of the Old Covenant (chapters 1-7)
II. The superior sacrifice of Christ, once for all (chapters 8-10)
III. Our response to Christ's sacrifice: Christian living (chapters 11-13)
HEBREWS 1:1-2
1 Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ ϑεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προϕήταις 2 ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν υἱῷ, ὃν ἔϑηκεν κληρονόμον πάντων, δι' οὗ καὶ ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας·
1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. (NIV)
The word variegated means "of many colors" or very diverse. That's the idea behind "at many times and in various ways." Like a coat of many colors, the Lord gave his message to his people with great variety. The Old Testament has something for everyone: poetry and prose, history and prophecy, long books and short, difficult messages sheathed in mysterious language and simple statements of facts that hit you like a snowball. How many different ways did God give his Old Testament message? He spoke directly to Adam and Eve; he spoke through ancient prophets before the flood like Enoch and Noah. He spoke to Moses "face to face, as a man speaks with his friend" (Exodus 33:11). A burning bush. A column of fire. A pillar of cloud. The documents written by Moses and the prophets; the Psalms and other poems written by David and Solomon. For a thousand years, from Moses to Malachi, God spoke and his people listened. And we still have their writings to this day.
That's the idea of verse 1. Then verse two hits us with "But...." There was something different, something new, and something altogether better about the way God has spoken now through a Son. A son is an heir; the son has what the father has. And what a Son! This was the Son of God, through whom God made the universe.
This is the Son, the child we worship at Christmas time. Here in the opening verses of the letter to the Hebrews--a letter written to you as well--we pause to contemplate the mystery and the miracle of the birth, death and resurrection of God's own Son, Jesus Christ.
God's Triune Self always existed in eternity, before the creation of the world. He was always there, one God, three persons, contemplating your existence and your salvation. And then the Father's love burst forth, the Son's mouth spoke, and Let there be (or, It is!), the universe was made. But when mankind fell into sin once again, the Son's love burst forth, and I am!, he became one of us, emptying himself of his divine power as he lived, but becoming a man to place himself under God's law and mankind's curse. This is what he came to do:
To live the life we cannot.
To die the death we have earned.
To communicate the gospel to us.
In ancient times, he said It is! Now he has said I Am! In these last days God has spoken to us by his Son. He is the perfect communication (Greek logos) from God. He is our Savior. He is our Peace.
HEBREWS 1:3a
3 ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory... (NIV)
The Greek word for "radiance" is apaugasma, which comes from a root word meaning "dawn" (Acts 20:11). One Greek lexicon defines it as "the source of the radiance: effulgence... as distinguished from refulgence" (Thayer). I don't think that "effulgence" and "refulgence" are in common usage these days, but think of it this way: The flaming ball of the sun is the shining object, but the reflection we see in the moon, on the surface of the earth, and everywhere else is simply the reflection of the shining object. Christ is the one who shines on us all, we merely reflect his light.
This is the way that Clement, pastor of Rome, described the radiance of Christ in about 95 AD:
This is the way we find our Savior Jesus Christ, the High Priest of all our offerings, the defender and helper of our weakness. Through him we look up to the heights of heaven. Through him we see the reflection of his faultless and lofty face. Through him the eyes of our hearts are opened. Through him our foolish and darkened understanding blossoms toward the light. Through him the Master willed that we should taste the immortal knowledge... (1 Clement 36:1-2).
The glory of God shines throughout the world in his creation, but what we see when we look at the wide world is nothing more than the reflection of God's glory. That's why the source of our faith and the direction of our religion does not come from within us. We only reflect the glory of God, shown to us in his gospel. But Christ is the radiance of God's glory, and so we look outside ourselves; away from ourselves to Christ. He is the bright shining source of the Glory of the Lord. He is the source of everything we have from God: Life, faith, forgiveness, and peace.
He became a human being, taking human flesh up into the divinity of God. He didn't lessen himself as God with that flesh, but he sanctified the flesh, and Christ the man was every bit as holy as God the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is the perfect and eternal Son of God, now a man for our sakes; eternal and everlasting God. This is the God we worship. This is the God who came into the world to save us from our sins.
Now this is the true Christian faith: We believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is both God and man. (Athanasian Creed)
HEBREWS 1:3b
ὃς ὢν ...καὶ χαρακτὴρ
3b The Son is...the exact representation.... (NIV)
The term "exact representation" is the Greek word character (χαρακτήρ). This scratchy-sounding word was originally the name of the sharp engraving tool that was used to scratch writing into stone or bronze. Later it became the word for the impression left by a signet ring in clay or wax. A remarkable example of this kind of impression is this one which reads "(Belonging) to Baruch son of Neriah, the Scribe," whose appears about twenty-five times in the Bible: "Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do..." Jeremiah 36:8.
Here the writer to the Hebrews describes Christ as the imprint, or exact representation of God the Father. He is not saying that Christ (merely) has the Father's approval, which was given by a signet ring (Gen 41:42; Esther 3:10; Dan 6:17). Christ is much more than this. Christ is the signet ring of the Father, and the exact stamp left by the Father among us, the human race. This statement is bound together with what will come next in the verse and which we will explore in tomorrow's devotion.
What this term tells us is that Christ is the very being, the very essence of God among mankind. Jesus is, in the words that infuriated the Pharisees, the Son of God. And he became human for us. For you.
He is God, eternally begotten from the nature of the Father, and he is man, born in time from the nature of his mother (Athanasian Creed).
HEBREWS 1:3c
ὃς ὢν...καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, ϕέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ,
3c The Son is...(the exact representation) of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (NIV)
It is worth looking at a single word here: being. In Greek this is the word hypostasis. One Greek lexicon defines this word as "the objective aspect and underlying reality behind anything." If that sounds like philosophical nonsense to you, I will only shrug and nod in agreement. But don't let a gobbledygook definition keep you away from understanding a beautiful truth. When you write a check, you're writing that against actual money that you have in the bank. The paper of the check has value because the money in the bank has value. The paper is real; when you trade it, it's money. If the person you give it to loses it, they've lost money. Christ is God. When he was born, God was born. His mother Mary gave birth to God himself.
The underlying reality behind Christ is that he was sent into the world by God the Father. What Christ did, he did because the Father wanted him to do it. Jesus is no maverick prophet; he is the one sent out by the Father on a mission to save mankind--that's why later in this letter Jesus himself is called "the apostle and high priest whom we confess." Jesus is an apostle--a special envoy--of God the Father. His is the exact stamp of God's existence.
The writer to the Hebrews splashes us with this incredibly deep truth, and doesn't stop to explain it to us. But perhaps it is significant that this letter was written to Hebrews--Hellenized Jewish believers who were well-versed in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, who spoke Greek and who understood Greek culture.
Jesus came into the world for us. For you. If the rest of this kind of theology is too deep on a day like today, then hang on to this truth most of all: Jesus came into the world to rescue sinners, including me and you.
(Jesus is) fully God, fully man, with rational soul and human flesh, equal to the Father as to his deity, less than the Father as to his humanity; and though he is both God and man, Christ is not two persons but one, one, not by changing the deity into flesh, but by taking the humanity into God; one, indeed, not by mixture of the natures, but by unity in one person; for just as the rational soul and flesh are one human being, so God and man are one Christ. (Athanasian Creed)
HEBREWS 1:3d
καϑαρισμὸν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ποιησάμενος ἐκάϑισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν ὑψηλοῖς,
3d After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (NIV)
"Purification" (Greek katharismos) is the complete purging of something. We still use the word cathartic in psychiatry and medicine to talk cleansing and purging the body or the mind. Aristotle described catharsis as the effect that tragic drama has on an audience, bringing many emotions (especially pity and fear) to the surface and channeling them out of people by seeing moving and gut-wrenching things take place on stage.
Here at the end of this remarkable verse, Hebrews 1:3, we see that Jesus provided a complete and perfect catharsis or purification of our sins. Jesus didn't whitewash our sins. He didn't put a bandage on them. He didn't mask them and hide them away. He purged them. He drove them out of us; off our record. Through Jesus and because of his work of purification on the cross, our sins are atoned for.
This is in direct contrast to what happened in the Old Testament sacrifices. When a person brought a beast to the priest, the slaughter took place to remind the one making the sacrifice that sin means death. On that day, it was the death of an animal, but in eternity, it means the eternal suffering of the sinner. The animal's blood didn't actually pay for anything. It only pointed ahead to the Lamb of God on the cross, purging the blood from his own veins and from each wound with every passionate heartbeat. Drip. Drip. Drip. He bled for my sins.
But the verse goes on. He "sat down" at the right hand of God in heaven. To sit down in this context means to have completed his task. He said that when he gasped "It is finished" on the rough altar at Calvary. The task of the payment for our sins is finished. There is nothing left to be done. We are forgiven.
WHAT ABOUT PURGATORY?
Unfortunately, there are still those who proclaim boldly that Christ's work is unfinished and unsatisfactory. They teach that believers die "still imperfectly purified...after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven" (Catechism of the Catholic Church page 268 paragraph 1031). This doctrine would like to lift its support partly from 1 Cor. 3:15 ("he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames") and 1 Peter 1:7 ("so that your faith-- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-- may be proved genuine"). But neither of these passages in context are talking about a place of purification after death. In fact, the 1 Corinthians passage is a warning about those who teach false doctrine!
But the real seat of the doctrine of Purgatory is 2 Maccabees 12:45, "Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." Pope Gregory the Great had said "As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire." (Cath. Catechism p. 269 para. 1031). Although they are not mentioned officially in the Catholic Catechism, other passages in 2 Maccabees would appear to touch on the same subject (6:12-17; 6:26; 7:36; and also 12:43-45 which describes prayer for the dead).
Since we take the meaning of the words of the Bible to be the original meaning meant by the author--that it to say, we accept the words as they appear in their context--then there is nothing at all in the 66 books of the Bible to support the doctrine of Purgatory.
Recently the Catholic church confessed that there is no basis in Scripture for the teaching of a limbo, a place of "holding" for unbaptized Old Testament believers and for infants who died before baptism. If the doctrine of limbo can be rejected as false and a mistake, we can only pray that the Catholic church will also admit after prayerful study that the doctrine of Purgatory is without basis in God's Word, and a mistake as well.
And even if we accepted 2 Maccabees and the other apocryphal books as part of the Bible's canon (which we do not), we would be forced to point out that just because Judas Maccabeus acted and apparently believed that prayer for the dead was of some benefit and that there might be a place for the purging of sin after death, we would not need to accept that as a definitive teaching of Scripture, since it is not presented as a truth such as the way Paul proclaims doctrine in his epistles or Jesus proclaims the truth with every word. Other men in the Bible acted from ignorance. Simon Magus thought he could buy the Holy Spirit's power with money (Acts 8:18-24). The sons of Sceva thought they could dabble in the occult by invoking the name of Christ without putting their faith in him in order to expel demons (Acts 19:13-16). And even Peter himself fell into a foolish and sinful error when he withdrew his fellowship from the Gentiles because he was influenced by strong-willed from James' congregation in Jerusalem (Galatians 2:11-21). Their errors are not presented in the Bible as things we ought to do any more than the murders presented as part of the narrative of the Bible or the error-filled opinions of Job's friends.
Our righteousness can't be obtained through the law. It can't be won for us by beatings and purgings in our body. It just can't be done by us at all. That's exactly what Paul meant when he said, "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21). The completeness of Jesus' work for us is described by these words:
He suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, and from there will come to judge the living and the dead. (Athanasian Creed)
Christ has won the victory for us completely in our place. Our task today and always is to worship and thank him for what he has done. Hold onto Christ. He is forgiveness. He is the resurrection. He is life.
For the rest of this first chapter, the writer begins to describe the ways in which Christ is superior. The word "superior" means the better of two when you compare two things--it's correct grammar as opposed to the way we usually talk. When we compare Christ to anyone, anyone at all, he is the one who is superior. To begin with, imagine how magnificent the angels are. But Christ is superior.
HEBREWS 1:4-5
4 τοσούτῳ κρείττων γενόμενος τῶν ἀγγέλων ὅσῳ διαϕορώτερον παρ' αὐτοὺς κεκληρονόμηκεν ὄνομα. 5 Τίνι γὰρ εἶπέν ποτε τῶν ἀγγέλων, Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε;καὶ πάλιν, ᾽Εγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν;
4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”? ¹ Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? ² (NIV)
¹ Psalm 2:7. ² 2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:13.
My great-grandfather's name was Tollefson. In some Scandinavian and Baltic countries, it is still commonplace for a child to carry his or her father's name as part of their last name, so that Eric's little boy might be Sven, but he is called Sven Ericson. Sven's little boy is Snurl Svenson, and his son would be Snorri Snurlson, and so on. The Father places his name on his children, and there is no question about family relationships.
When God the Father placed his name on God the Son, there was no question about their relationship. There is no angel, no power, no authority in the universe God calls "my Son" except Jesus Christ.
Now, anyone who has read Romans 11 knows that "you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree" (Romans 11:24). In other words, we have become God's children, his sons and daughters, by adoption. We are grafted into his family the way one plant can be grafted onto another plant, or the way a piece of flesh can be grafted into a body when damage has been done.
But we grafts, we heirs, are not able to do what Christ did. He is the one and only Son of God, who accomplished our salvation. In fact, Christ's sacrifice for us is precisely how we came to be grafted into the family of God in the first place. This was the work of no angel. This was the work of the Son of God. And it was done for you.
HEBREWS 1:6-7
6 ὅταν δὲ πάλιν εἰσαγάγῃ τὸν πρωτότοκον εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην, λέγει, Καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι ϑεοῦ. 7 καὶ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀγγέλους λέγει, ῾Ο ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα, καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς ϕλόγα·
6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” ¹ 7 In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.” ²
¹ Deuteronomy 32:43 (see Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint: καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες υἱοὶ θεοῦ). ² Psalm 104:4.
When God brought his Son into the world, the angels did indeed worship him, singing Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests (Luke 2:14). Examples of angels serving Christ also appear in the Gospels, such as after he was tempted by the devil and "angels attended him" (Mark 1:13). Jesus also shows his authority over them when he says "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53).
The word for "servants" in Hebrew is mesharatav, a word sometimes used on royal attendants in the Bible (2 Chronicles 9:4; Esther 2:2), but also of angels serving God (Psalm 103:21).
The angels serve Christ by doing his bidding and by watching over us. But Christ is superior; he also watched over us, and is the one who has commanded the angels. And his victory over the devil gives us eternal protection; Jesus became our servant when he took the guilt and blame for our sins on himself, and died for us. For you.
Note: The expression flames of fire in verse 7, quoting Psalm 104:4, is esh loheth in Hebrew; not seraphim as you might expect. But the two expressions are similar, referring to the bright light given off by the angels when seen by us.
HEBREWS 1:8-9
8 πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν, ῾Ο ϑρόνος σου, ὁ ϑεός, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς εὐϑύτητος ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου. 9 ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀνομίαν· διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέν σε ὁ ϑεός, ὁ ϑεός σου, ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου·
8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” ¹ (NIV)
¹ Psalm 45:6,7.
This quotation is from the Bible's great Wedding Song, Psalm 45. In this Psalms, the groom is God himself, Christ, whose throne "will last for ever and ever," and who has been set by "God, your God" (the Father), who "has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy." Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit at his baptism, and for that reason we might even use this passage to describe the Holy Trinity, although there are clearer passages in both Old and New Testaments.
This groom, our King, loves righteousness and he hates wickedness. He hasn't overlooked our sin. The whole point of this elaborate description of Christ is to remind us that he committed himself totally to his bride, the church. To us. To you and me. He sacrificed his own life, poured out his own blood, gave up his entire future on earth, to die in our place. That's why we join ourselves to him. Christ wasn't doing it for his bride -- he was doing it for sinners. Now we forgiven sinners have become his bride because we love him, we trust him, and we worship him.
Remember that in this chapter, the writer is showing us how Christ is superior to the angels. No angel has done the things mentioned in this Psalm. No angel has ever committed himself completely to mankind, let alone a single human being, as a groom joins himself totally to his bride.
Jesus changed the direction of his existence to make us his own. He loved us more than himself. He loved us more than life. He leads us only with love, and he inspires us to follow with his example, and his mercy, and his patience, and his love. He is our king, our partner, our friend, our companion, and our rescuer -- for life. That's what a husband does. And that's what Christ has done for the whole world.
HEBREWS 1:10-12
10 καί, Σὺ κατ' ἀρχάς, κύριε, τὴν γῆν ἐϑεμελίωσας, καὶ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σού εἰσιν οἱ οὐρανοί· 11 αὐτοὶ ἀπολοῦνται, σὺ δὲ διαμένεις· καὶ πάντες ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωϑήσονται, 12 καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἑλίξεις αὐτούς,ὡς ἱμάτιον καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται· σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν.
10 And, "In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing; 12 like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will never end." (NRSV) ¹
¹ Psalm 102:25-27.
In these verses, the writer to the Hebrews reminds us that God is the one who created the world. Although Job 38:4-7 ("when I laid the earth's foundation...the angels shouted for joy") indicates that the angels responded to God's act of creation with praise, nothing in Scripture tells us without a doubt when the angels were created. We know only that prior to the creation, the angels didn't exist. Psalm 148 tells us that God "commanded and they (the angels) were created" (148:5). And Paul tells us that through Christ "all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible" (Colossians 1:16).
Everything and everyone was created by God. But God himself? "You remain the same, and your years will never end." Christ is superior to the angels because he created them; they serve him and they love him.
13 πρὸς τίνα δὲ τῶν ἀγγέλων εἴρηκέν ποτε, Κάϑου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου ἕως ἂν ϑῶ τοὺς ἐχϑρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου;
13 But to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? ² (NRSV)
² Psalm 110:1.
It's a rhetorical question, and of course we would say, "To none of them." This Psalm verse begins "The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand...'" (Psalm 110:1).
Quoting this same Psalm, Jesus points out that the Christ is superior to David: "If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he (the Messiah) be his (David's) son?" (Matthew 22:44-45). Jesus was being tested by the Sadducees and Pharisees, who rarely agreed on anything except their distaste for Jesus. After answering their questions, he asked them to answer the paradox: In Jewish culture, a son is not superior to his father. But if the Christ is "the son of David," then why would David, writing Psalm 110, call the Christ "my Lord"?
The answer to Jesus' question is simple for the believer to answer: Christ is superior to David because he is God himself, even though David is his ancestor. To the unbeliever, this is an enigma that can't be solved, as Clement of Rome said about this passage: But who are his enemies? Those who are wicked and oppose his will. (1 Clement 36:6). They cannot see because they don't have faith. They oppose God in every way.
But faith lets us see the point with the eyes, heart and faith of a child. What a blessing our faith is! What a miracle belief is. That God that he has made us his heirs through Christ. We are rescued from the darkness and hatred of unbelief. We have the forgiveness of our sins, and we have a place forever in heaven with our Savior, Jesus Christ.
HEBREWS 1:14
14 οὐχὶ πάντες εἰσὶν λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα εἰς διακονίαν ἀποστελλόμενα διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν σωτηρίαν;
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? (NASB)
A "minister" is a servant whose "ministrations" benefit others. The angels exist to serve and praise God. In that service, they are sometimes called upon to watch over mankind, as this passage teaches us. Examples of this kind of help for people include an angel shutting the mouths of the lions to protect Daniel (Daniel 6:22), the angels who urged Lot to flee from Sodom before it was destroyed (Genesis 19:15) and the angel who released Peter from prison (Acts 12:8-9).
One of our Seminary professors, John Schuetze, wrote this important statement about our relationship with the angels:
“Even though angels are worthy of our attention, they are not worthy of our worship. Even though they pray for us, they are not to be addressed in prayer. They are only creatures of God and fellow servants of the Savior. To worship, trust in, and pray for them rather than God is to practice idolatry. Instead, we are to join the angels in singing that hymn of praise: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!’” ¹ (Angels and Demons, p. 34).
The answer to the rhetorical question in our verse is Yes. The angels serve, but Christ reigns. He reigns because he is the Son of God, as far above angels and men as the universe is above the depths of the sea. It is Christ who won our salvation for us; the salvation we inherit.
Lord God, make us all your willing servants to do your will in the world. Make us tools you can use to carry out your plan for mankind.
¹ Revelation 19:6,7
The theme of the book is "Christ is Superior" -- superior to the angels, to the priests, to Moses, and to every hero of the faith in history.
A simple outline of the book might be:
I. Christ is superior to the leaders of the Old Covenant (chapters 1-7)
II. The superior sacrifice of Christ, once for all (chapters 8-10)
III. Our response to Christ's sacrifice: Christian living (chapters 11-13)
HEBREWS 1:1-2
1 Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ ϑεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προϕήταις 2 ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν υἱῷ, ὃν ἔϑηκεν κληρονόμον πάντων, δι' οὗ καὶ ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας·
1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. (NIV)
The word variegated means "of many colors" or very diverse. That's the idea behind "at many times and in various ways." Like a coat of many colors, the Lord gave his message to his people with great variety. The Old Testament has something for everyone: poetry and prose, history and prophecy, long books and short, difficult messages sheathed in mysterious language and simple statements of facts that hit you like a snowball. How many different ways did God give his Old Testament message? He spoke directly to Adam and Eve; he spoke through ancient prophets before the flood like Enoch and Noah. He spoke to Moses "face to face, as a man speaks with his friend" (Exodus 33:11). A burning bush. A column of fire. A pillar of cloud. The documents written by Moses and the prophets; the Psalms and other poems written by David and Solomon. For a thousand years, from Moses to Malachi, God spoke and his people listened. And we still have their writings to this day.
That's the idea of verse 1. Then verse two hits us with "But...." There was something different, something new, and something altogether better about the way God has spoken now through a Son. A son is an heir; the son has what the father has. And what a Son! This was the Son of God, through whom God made the universe.
This is the Son, the child we worship at Christmas time. Here in the opening verses of the letter to the Hebrews--a letter written to you as well--we pause to contemplate the mystery and the miracle of the birth, death and resurrection of God's own Son, Jesus Christ.
God's Triune Self always existed in eternity, before the creation of the world. He was always there, one God, three persons, contemplating your existence and your salvation. And then the Father's love burst forth, the Son's mouth spoke, and Let there be (or, It is!), the universe was made. But when mankind fell into sin once again, the Son's love burst forth, and I am!, he became one of us, emptying himself of his divine power as he lived, but becoming a man to place himself under God's law and mankind's curse. This is what he came to do:
To live the life we cannot.
To die the death we have earned.
To communicate the gospel to us.
In ancient times, he said It is! Now he has said I Am! In these last days God has spoken to us by his Son. He is the perfect communication (Greek logos) from God. He is our Savior. He is our Peace.
HEBREWS 1:3a
3 ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory... (NIV)
The Greek word for "radiance" is apaugasma, which comes from a root word meaning "dawn" (Acts 20:11). One Greek lexicon defines it as "the source of the radiance: effulgence... as distinguished from refulgence" (Thayer). I don't think that "effulgence" and "refulgence" are in common usage these days, but think of it this way: The flaming ball of the sun is the shining object, but the reflection we see in the moon, on the surface of the earth, and everywhere else is simply the reflection of the shining object. Christ is the one who shines on us all, we merely reflect his light.
This is the way that Clement, pastor of Rome, described the radiance of Christ in about 95 AD:
This is the way we find our Savior Jesus Christ, the High Priest of all our offerings, the defender and helper of our weakness. Through him we look up to the heights of heaven. Through him we see the reflection of his faultless and lofty face. Through him the eyes of our hearts are opened. Through him our foolish and darkened understanding blossoms toward the light. Through him the Master willed that we should taste the immortal knowledge... (1 Clement 36:1-2).
The glory of God shines throughout the world in his creation, but what we see when we look at the wide world is nothing more than the reflection of God's glory. That's why the source of our faith and the direction of our religion does not come from within us. We only reflect the glory of God, shown to us in his gospel. But Christ is the radiance of God's glory, and so we look outside ourselves; away from ourselves to Christ. He is the bright shining source of the Glory of the Lord. He is the source of everything we have from God: Life, faith, forgiveness, and peace.
He became a human being, taking human flesh up into the divinity of God. He didn't lessen himself as God with that flesh, but he sanctified the flesh, and Christ the man was every bit as holy as God the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is the perfect and eternal Son of God, now a man for our sakes; eternal and everlasting God. This is the God we worship. This is the God who came into the world to save us from our sins.
Now this is the true Christian faith: We believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is both God and man. (Athanasian Creed)
HEBREWS 1:3b
ὃς ὢν ...καὶ χαρακτὴρ
3b The Son is...the exact representation.... (NIV)
The term "exact representation" is the Greek word character (χαρακτήρ). This scratchy-sounding word was originally the name of the sharp engraving tool that was used to scratch writing into stone or bronze. Later it became the word for the impression left by a signet ring in clay or wax. A remarkable example of this kind of impression is this one which reads "(Belonging) to Baruch son of Neriah, the Scribe," whose appears about twenty-five times in the Bible: "Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do..." Jeremiah 36:8.
Here the writer to the Hebrews describes Christ as the imprint, or exact representation of God the Father. He is not saying that Christ (merely) has the Father's approval, which was given by a signet ring (Gen 41:42; Esther 3:10; Dan 6:17). Christ is much more than this. Christ is the signet ring of the Father, and the exact stamp left by the Father among us, the human race. This statement is bound together with what will come next in the verse and which we will explore in tomorrow's devotion.
What this term tells us is that Christ is the very being, the very essence of God among mankind. Jesus is, in the words that infuriated the Pharisees, the Son of God. And he became human for us. For you.
He is God, eternally begotten from the nature of the Father, and he is man, born in time from the nature of his mother (Athanasian Creed).
HEBREWS 1:3c
ὃς ὢν...καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, ϕέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ,
3c The Son is...(the exact representation) of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (NIV)
It is worth looking at a single word here: being. In Greek this is the word hypostasis. One Greek lexicon defines this word as "the objective aspect and underlying reality behind anything." If that sounds like philosophical nonsense to you, I will only shrug and nod in agreement. But don't let a gobbledygook definition keep you away from understanding a beautiful truth. When you write a check, you're writing that against actual money that you have in the bank. The paper of the check has value because the money in the bank has value. The paper is real; when you trade it, it's money. If the person you give it to loses it, they've lost money. Christ is God. When he was born, God was born. His mother Mary gave birth to God himself.
The underlying reality behind Christ is that he was sent into the world by God the Father. What Christ did, he did because the Father wanted him to do it. Jesus is no maverick prophet; he is the one sent out by the Father on a mission to save mankind--that's why later in this letter Jesus himself is called "the apostle and high priest whom we confess." Jesus is an apostle--a special envoy--of God the Father. His is the exact stamp of God's existence.
The writer to the Hebrews splashes us with this incredibly deep truth, and doesn't stop to explain it to us. But perhaps it is significant that this letter was written to Hebrews--Hellenized Jewish believers who were well-versed in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, who spoke Greek and who understood Greek culture.
Jesus came into the world for us. For you. If the rest of this kind of theology is too deep on a day like today, then hang on to this truth most of all: Jesus came into the world to rescue sinners, including me and you.
(Jesus is) fully God, fully man, with rational soul and human flesh, equal to the Father as to his deity, less than the Father as to his humanity; and though he is both God and man, Christ is not two persons but one, one, not by changing the deity into flesh, but by taking the humanity into God; one, indeed, not by mixture of the natures, but by unity in one person; for just as the rational soul and flesh are one human being, so God and man are one Christ. (Athanasian Creed)
HEBREWS 1:3d
καϑαρισμὸν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ποιησάμενος ἐκάϑισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν ὑψηλοῖς,
3d After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (NIV)
"Purification" (Greek katharismos) is the complete purging of something. We still use the word cathartic in psychiatry and medicine to talk cleansing and purging the body or the mind. Aristotle described catharsis as the effect that tragic drama has on an audience, bringing many emotions (especially pity and fear) to the surface and channeling them out of people by seeing moving and gut-wrenching things take place on stage.
Here at the end of this remarkable verse, Hebrews 1:3, we see that Jesus provided a complete and perfect catharsis or purification of our sins. Jesus didn't whitewash our sins. He didn't put a bandage on them. He didn't mask them and hide them away. He purged them. He drove them out of us; off our record. Through Jesus and because of his work of purification on the cross, our sins are atoned for.
This is in direct contrast to what happened in the Old Testament sacrifices. When a person brought a beast to the priest, the slaughter took place to remind the one making the sacrifice that sin means death. On that day, it was the death of an animal, but in eternity, it means the eternal suffering of the sinner. The animal's blood didn't actually pay for anything. It only pointed ahead to the Lamb of God on the cross, purging the blood from his own veins and from each wound with every passionate heartbeat. Drip. Drip. Drip. He bled for my sins.
But the verse goes on. He "sat down" at the right hand of God in heaven. To sit down in this context means to have completed his task. He said that when he gasped "It is finished" on the rough altar at Calvary. The task of the payment for our sins is finished. There is nothing left to be done. We are forgiven.
WHAT ABOUT PURGATORY?
Unfortunately, there are still those who proclaim boldly that Christ's work is unfinished and unsatisfactory. They teach that believers die "still imperfectly purified...after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven" (Catechism of the Catholic Church page 268 paragraph 1031). This doctrine would like to lift its support partly from 1 Cor. 3:15 ("he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames") and 1 Peter 1:7 ("so that your faith-- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-- may be proved genuine"). But neither of these passages in context are talking about a place of purification after death. In fact, the 1 Corinthians passage is a warning about those who teach false doctrine!
But the real seat of the doctrine of Purgatory is 2 Maccabees 12:45, "Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." Pope Gregory the Great had said "As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire." (Cath. Catechism p. 269 para. 1031). Although they are not mentioned officially in the Catholic Catechism, other passages in 2 Maccabees would appear to touch on the same subject (6:12-17; 6:26; 7:36; and also 12:43-45 which describes prayer for the dead).
Since we take the meaning of the words of the Bible to be the original meaning meant by the author--that it to say, we accept the words as they appear in their context--then there is nothing at all in the 66 books of the Bible to support the doctrine of Purgatory.
Recently the Catholic church confessed that there is no basis in Scripture for the teaching of a limbo, a place of "holding" for unbaptized Old Testament believers and for infants who died before baptism. If the doctrine of limbo can be rejected as false and a mistake, we can only pray that the Catholic church will also admit after prayerful study that the doctrine of Purgatory is without basis in God's Word, and a mistake as well.
And even if we accepted 2 Maccabees and the other apocryphal books as part of the Bible's canon (which we do not), we would be forced to point out that just because Judas Maccabeus acted and apparently believed that prayer for the dead was of some benefit and that there might be a place for the purging of sin after death, we would not need to accept that as a definitive teaching of Scripture, since it is not presented as a truth such as the way Paul proclaims doctrine in his epistles or Jesus proclaims the truth with every word. Other men in the Bible acted from ignorance. Simon Magus thought he could buy the Holy Spirit's power with money (Acts 8:18-24). The sons of Sceva thought they could dabble in the occult by invoking the name of Christ without putting their faith in him in order to expel demons (Acts 19:13-16). And even Peter himself fell into a foolish and sinful error when he withdrew his fellowship from the Gentiles because he was influenced by strong-willed from James' congregation in Jerusalem (Galatians 2:11-21). Their errors are not presented in the Bible as things we ought to do any more than the murders presented as part of the narrative of the Bible or the error-filled opinions of Job's friends.
Our righteousness can't be obtained through the law. It can't be won for us by beatings and purgings in our body. It just can't be done by us at all. That's exactly what Paul meant when he said, "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21). The completeness of Jesus' work for us is described by these words:
He suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, and from there will come to judge the living and the dead. (Athanasian Creed)
Christ has won the victory for us completely in our place. Our task today and always is to worship and thank him for what he has done. Hold onto Christ. He is forgiveness. He is the resurrection. He is life.
For the rest of this first chapter, the writer begins to describe the ways in which Christ is superior. The word "superior" means the better of two when you compare two things--it's correct grammar as opposed to the way we usually talk. When we compare Christ to anyone, anyone at all, he is the one who is superior. To begin with, imagine how magnificent the angels are. But Christ is superior.
HEBREWS 1:4-5
4 τοσούτῳ κρείττων γενόμενος τῶν ἀγγέλων ὅσῳ διαϕορώτερον παρ' αὐτοὺς κεκληρονόμηκεν ὄνομα. 5 Τίνι γὰρ εἶπέν ποτε τῶν ἀγγέλων, Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε;καὶ πάλιν, ᾽Εγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν;
4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”? ¹ Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? ² (NIV)
¹ Psalm 2:7. ² 2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:13.
My great-grandfather's name was Tollefson. In some Scandinavian and Baltic countries, it is still commonplace for a child to carry his or her father's name as part of their last name, so that Eric's little boy might be Sven, but he is called Sven Ericson. Sven's little boy is Snurl Svenson, and his son would be Snorri Snurlson, and so on. The Father places his name on his children, and there is no question about family relationships.
When God the Father placed his name on God the Son, there was no question about their relationship. There is no angel, no power, no authority in the universe God calls "my Son" except Jesus Christ.
Now, anyone who has read Romans 11 knows that "you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree" (Romans 11:24). In other words, we have become God's children, his sons and daughters, by adoption. We are grafted into his family the way one plant can be grafted onto another plant, or the way a piece of flesh can be grafted into a body when damage has been done.
But we grafts, we heirs, are not able to do what Christ did. He is the one and only Son of God, who accomplished our salvation. In fact, Christ's sacrifice for us is precisely how we came to be grafted into the family of God in the first place. This was the work of no angel. This was the work of the Son of God. And it was done for you.
HEBREWS 1:6-7
6 ὅταν δὲ πάλιν εἰσαγάγῃ τὸν πρωτότοκον εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην, λέγει, Καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι ϑεοῦ. 7 καὶ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀγγέλους λέγει, ῾Ο ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα, καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς ϕλόγα·
6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” ¹ 7 In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.” ²
¹ Deuteronomy 32:43 (see Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint: καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες υἱοὶ θεοῦ). ² Psalm 104:4.
When God brought his Son into the world, the angels did indeed worship him, singing Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests (Luke 2:14). Examples of angels serving Christ also appear in the Gospels, such as after he was tempted by the devil and "angels attended him" (Mark 1:13). Jesus also shows his authority over them when he says "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53).
The word for "servants" in Hebrew is mesharatav, a word sometimes used on royal attendants in the Bible (2 Chronicles 9:4; Esther 2:2), but also of angels serving God (Psalm 103:21).
The angels serve Christ by doing his bidding and by watching over us. But Christ is superior; he also watched over us, and is the one who has commanded the angels. And his victory over the devil gives us eternal protection; Jesus became our servant when he took the guilt and blame for our sins on himself, and died for us. For you.
Note: The expression flames of fire in verse 7, quoting Psalm 104:4, is esh loheth in Hebrew; not seraphim as you might expect. But the two expressions are similar, referring to the bright light given off by the angels when seen by us.
HEBREWS 1:8-9
8 πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν, ῾Ο ϑρόνος σου, ὁ ϑεός, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς εὐϑύτητος ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου. 9 ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀνομίαν· διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέν σε ὁ ϑεός, ὁ ϑεός σου, ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου·
8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” ¹ (NIV)
¹ Psalm 45:6,7.
This quotation is from the Bible's great Wedding Song, Psalm 45. In this Psalms, the groom is God himself, Christ, whose throne "will last for ever and ever," and who has been set by "God, your God" (the Father), who "has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy." Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit at his baptism, and for that reason we might even use this passage to describe the Holy Trinity, although there are clearer passages in both Old and New Testaments.
This groom, our King, loves righteousness and he hates wickedness. He hasn't overlooked our sin. The whole point of this elaborate description of Christ is to remind us that he committed himself totally to his bride, the church. To us. To you and me. He sacrificed his own life, poured out his own blood, gave up his entire future on earth, to die in our place. That's why we join ourselves to him. Christ wasn't doing it for his bride -- he was doing it for sinners. Now we forgiven sinners have become his bride because we love him, we trust him, and we worship him.
Remember that in this chapter, the writer is showing us how Christ is superior to the angels. No angel has done the things mentioned in this Psalm. No angel has ever committed himself completely to mankind, let alone a single human being, as a groom joins himself totally to his bride.
Jesus changed the direction of his existence to make us his own. He loved us more than himself. He loved us more than life. He leads us only with love, and he inspires us to follow with his example, and his mercy, and his patience, and his love. He is our king, our partner, our friend, our companion, and our rescuer -- for life. That's what a husband does. And that's what Christ has done for the whole world.
HEBREWS 1:10-12
10 καί, Σὺ κατ' ἀρχάς, κύριε, τὴν γῆν ἐϑεμελίωσας, καὶ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σού εἰσιν οἱ οὐρανοί· 11 αὐτοὶ ἀπολοῦνται, σὺ δὲ διαμένεις· καὶ πάντες ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωϑήσονται, 12 καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἑλίξεις αὐτούς,ὡς ἱμάτιον καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται· σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν.
10 And, "In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing; 12 like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will never end." (NRSV) ¹
¹ Psalm 102:25-27.
In these verses, the writer to the Hebrews reminds us that God is the one who created the world. Although Job 38:4-7 ("when I laid the earth's foundation...the angels shouted for joy") indicates that the angels responded to God's act of creation with praise, nothing in Scripture tells us without a doubt when the angels were created. We know only that prior to the creation, the angels didn't exist. Psalm 148 tells us that God "commanded and they (the angels) were created" (148:5). And Paul tells us that through Christ "all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible" (Colossians 1:16).
Everything and everyone was created by God. But God himself? "You remain the same, and your years will never end." Christ is superior to the angels because he created them; they serve him and they love him.
13 πρὸς τίνα δὲ τῶν ἀγγέλων εἴρηκέν ποτε, Κάϑου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου ἕως ἂν ϑῶ τοὺς ἐχϑρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου;
13 But to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? ² (NRSV)
² Psalm 110:1.
It's a rhetorical question, and of course we would say, "To none of them." This Psalm verse begins "The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand...'" (Psalm 110:1).
Quoting this same Psalm, Jesus points out that the Christ is superior to David: "If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he (the Messiah) be his (David's) son?" (Matthew 22:44-45). Jesus was being tested by the Sadducees and Pharisees, who rarely agreed on anything except their distaste for Jesus. After answering their questions, he asked them to answer the paradox: In Jewish culture, a son is not superior to his father. But if the Christ is "the son of David," then why would David, writing Psalm 110, call the Christ "my Lord"?
The answer to Jesus' question is simple for the believer to answer: Christ is superior to David because he is God himself, even though David is his ancestor. To the unbeliever, this is an enigma that can't be solved, as Clement of Rome said about this passage: But who are his enemies? Those who are wicked and oppose his will. (1 Clement 36:6). They cannot see because they don't have faith. They oppose God in every way.
But faith lets us see the point with the eyes, heart and faith of a child. What a blessing our faith is! What a miracle belief is. That God that he has made us his heirs through Christ. We are rescued from the darkness and hatred of unbelief. We have the forgiveness of our sins, and we have a place forever in heaven with our Savior, Jesus Christ.
HEBREWS 1:14
14 οὐχὶ πάντες εἰσὶν λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα εἰς διακονίαν ἀποστελλόμενα διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν σωτηρίαν;
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? (NASB)
A "minister" is a servant whose "ministrations" benefit others. The angels exist to serve and praise God. In that service, they are sometimes called upon to watch over mankind, as this passage teaches us. Examples of this kind of help for people include an angel shutting the mouths of the lions to protect Daniel (Daniel 6:22), the angels who urged Lot to flee from Sodom before it was destroyed (Genesis 19:15) and the angel who released Peter from prison (Acts 12:8-9).
One of our Seminary professors, John Schuetze, wrote this important statement about our relationship with the angels:
“Even though angels are worthy of our attention, they are not worthy of our worship. Even though they pray for us, they are not to be addressed in prayer. They are only creatures of God and fellow servants of the Savior. To worship, trust in, and pray for them rather than God is to practice idolatry. Instead, we are to join the angels in singing that hymn of praise: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!’” ¹ (Angels and Demons, p. 34).
The answer to the rhetorical question in our verse is Yes. The angels serve, but Christ reigns. He reigns because he is the Son of God, as far above angels and men as the universe is above the depths of the sea. It is Christ who won our salvation for us; the salvation we inherit.
Lord God, make us all your willing servants to do your will in the world. Make us tools you can use to carry out your plan for mankind.
¹ Revelation 19:6,7
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