TYPES OF PSALMS
57 of the psalms are actually and technically called “psalms” in their headings. Typres of Psalms include:
PSALMS (Hebrew tehillim, sg. tehillah). Psalm appears to mean a song accompanied by a stringed instrument like a lyre or harp. Another word translated “Psalm” is mizmor, “trimmed. Psalm 23 is a mizmor.
SONGS (Hebrew shirim, sg. shir). Psalm 30 is both a shir (song) and a mizmor (Psalm).
PRAYERS (Heb. tephilloth, sg. tephillah). Psalm 17.
MIKTAMS (Heb. miktam). The meaning of this word is uncertain, but it might refer to a carefully crafted poem. Six pslams are called miktam in their headings: 16, 56, 57, 58, 59, and 60.
MASKILS (Heb. maskil). These seem to be primarily psalms for teaching or meditation, especially on godliness or godly living, but the word may also mean “skillful.” Psalm 47 contains this word (“sing to him a psalm of praise”), perhaps urging believers to a life of godly praise. “Psalms for reflection” might bring all these meanings under a single term. There are 13 maskil psalms in the Bible: 32, 42, 44, 45, 52, 53, 54, 55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142.
OTHER CATEGORIES:
Seven Psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143) have been grouped as the Penitential Psalms ever since about 250 AD. Luther suggested that the Psalms be categorized into five basic groups, which can be helpful:
1) MESSIANIC PSALMS that speak about Christ and his work (2, 22, 110, etc.).
2) TEACHING PSALMS that emphasize doctrine (1, 139) or history (105, 106)
3) COMFORT PSALMS that emphasize forgiveness and peace (4, 23, 37, 91, etc.)
4) PRAYER AND PETITION PSALMS (3, 137, 143 etc.)
5) THANKSGIVING PSALMS (103, 104, 136, etc.)
Many psalms would fit into more than one of those categories.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Psalms Introduction - 1
I. “BOOKS” OF THE PSALMS
The book of Psalms is divided into five uneven sections traditionally called the Book of the Psalms. They are grouped somewhat by authorship and somewhat by content. It is possible that the fivefold grouping of the Psalms was meant to reflect the five books of Moses, but this idea should probably not be pressed. Ancient Jewish and Christian traditions name Ezra as the man responsible for our present arrangement of the Psalms in their current order and probably in this 5-book division.
Each of the books seem to have a single verse that should be viewed outside the Psalm it follows that serves as a doxology for that book.
Book I. Psalms 1—41. Psalms written primarily by David and preferring the name LORD (יְהוָה) rather than God.
. 41:13 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.
Book II. Psalms 42—72. Psalms written primarily by David and exclusively using the title God (אֱלֹהִים) rather than LORD.
72:18-19
. Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.
. Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
. Amen and Amen.
72:20
. This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.
Book III. Psalms 73—89. Psalms written by Asaph and the Sons of Korah.
89:52[Heb. 53]
. Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.
Book IV. Psalms 90—106. Psalms written about or relating to the exodus and a Psalm by Moses himself.
106:48
. Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
. Let all the people say “Amen!” Praise the LORD (Hallelujah).
Book V. Psalms 107—150. Psalms of praise, often invoking the word Hallelujah.
Psalm 150:6
. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD (Hallelujah).
(I think it’s likely that the last verse of Psalm 150 was not added, but that Psalm 150 was chosen or even written to conclude the whole book as a sort of grand doxology.)
II. AUTHORSHIP
116 of the 150 Psalms in the Bible have headings or superscriptions of some kind. Even some of the songs outside the Psalms (Habakkuk chapter 3) have similar features. Although some think that these headings may have been added at a later time, there are no copies or versions of the Psalms prior to the 20th Century that do not have them. Also, other ancient culture (Ugaritic, Sumerian, Egyptian) that used the same kind of headings. A shorthand history of the Hebrew text and some translations of the headings:
A typical example of an author’s name in one of these headings is found above verse 1 in Psalm 86: A Prayer of David. David is the author of 75 of the Psalms. Other authors include Solomon, Moses, Asaph (especially in Book III), the ‘Sons of Korah,’ and a few others.
III. PARALLELISM
Since Hebrew is an inflected language, rhyme is rarely seen as a literary or poetic device. Instead, Hebrew relies on word pictures and rhythm. One of the ways Hebrew paints its word pictures is by sketching the complete border of the thought using a variety of words. One of the most common ways of this sketch is the parallel line.
Parallel lines of Hebrew poetry say either the same thing in two or more ways, or else they say the opposite thing, so that the full impact of the subject will be better understood.
There are at least five types of parallelism in the Psalms, but the main three are:
SYNONYMOUS
ANTITHETIC
SYNTHETIC
Other names have been attempted for different types (Introverted, Stair-like, Emblematic, etc.), but knowing something about these three will take you pretty far.
SYNONYMOUS PARALLELISM Restating a point using similar words.
- I will sing to the Lord...
- I will sing praises to my God (Psalm 104:33)
ANTITHETIC PARALLELISM Restating a point with a contrast.
- In God I trust,
- I will not be afraid (Psalm 56:4) [Hebrew 56:5]
SYNTHETIC PARALLELISM Completing a point with a longer phrase.
- Like their fathers they were faithless...
- as unreliable as a faulty bow. (Psalm 78:56)
Since all three are found in Psalm 73, we will simply visit that Psalm and see how each kind of parallelism serves to carry along the message of the Holy Spirit.
PSALM 73
In his first series of lectures on the Psalms, Martin Luther called Psalm 73 “a light for resolving many scripture passages which seem to be contradictory. For while there are many passage which threaten nothing but evil to the evil and promise nothing but good to the good, there are, on the contrary, the complaints and the experience of so many… Throughout the Psalter there are the lamentations of the godly, in which it is demonstrated that the good are badly off and the evil are well off.”
An outline of this psalm:
1. 73:1-14 A Trial of Faith
- A. 73:1 The Theme: God is good to Israel
- B. 73:2-3 The Problem: My foot had almost slipped (cf. Psalm 121:3)
- C. 73:4-11 The Song of Complaint
- D. 73:12 The Antithesis of the Theme (This is what the wicked are like)
- E. 73:13-14 The Problem Restated (In vain I have kept my heart pure)
“…morning.” – center of the Psalm
2. 73:15-28 The Renewal of Faith
- A. 73:15-17 Faith renewed through worship
- B. 73:18-20 The Solution: God will bring the wicked to judgment (and a joy about “morning” as God despises the wicked like dreams/fantasies after waking)
- C. 73:21-22 Confession and humiliation
- D. 73:23-26 The Song of Faith
- E. 73:27-28 The Response of Faith: I will tell of all your deeds
Notice the various kinds of parallelism as you read the Psalm. You may wish to mark some of them—or other notes—in the margin. Remember: there doesn’t have to be parallelism. It’s just one aspect of Hebrew poetry. The first three verses are done.
The book of Psalms is divided into five uneven sections traditionally called the Book of the Psalms. They are grouped somewhat by authorship and somewhat by content. It is possible that the fivefold grouping of the Psalms was meant to reflect the five books of Moses, but this idea should probably not be pressed. Ancient Jewish and Christian traditions name Ezra as the man responsible for our present arrangement of the Psalms in their current order and probably in this 5-book division.
Each of the books seem to have a single verse that should be viewed outside the Psalm it follows that serves as a doxology for that book.
Book I. Psalms 1—41. Psalms written primarily by David and preferring the name LORD (יְהוָה) rather than God.
בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵהָעוֹלָם וְעַד הָעוֹלָם אָמֵן וְאָמֵן
. 41:13 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.
Book II. Psalms 42—72. Psalms written primarily by David and exclusively using the title God (אֱלֹהִים) rather than LORD.
72:18-19
בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עֹשֵׂה נִפְלָאוֹת לְבַדּוֹ
וּבָרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹדוֹ לְעוֹלָם
וְיִמָּלֵא כְבוֹדוֹ אֶת־כֹּל הָאָרֶץ אָמֵן וְאָמֵן
. Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.
. Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
. Amen and Amen.
72:20
כָּלּוּ תְפִלּוֹת דָּוִד בֶּן־יִשָׁי
. This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.
Book III. Psalms 73—89. Psalms written by Asaph and the Sons of Korah.
89:52[Heb. 53]
בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה לְעוֹלָם אָמֵן וְאָמֵן
. Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.
Book IV. Psalms 90—106. Psalms written about or relating to the exodus and a Psalm by Moses himself.
106:48
בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן־הָעוֹלָם וְעַד הָעוֹלָם
וְאָמַר כָּל־הָעָם אָמֵן
הַלְלוּ־יָהּ
. Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
. Let all the people say “Amen!” Praise the LORD (Hallelujah).
Book V. Psalms 107—150. Psalms of praise, often invoking the word Hallelujah.
Psalm 150:6
כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל יָהּ הַלְלוּ־יָהּ
. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD (Hallelujah).
(I think it’s likely that the last verse of Psalm 150 was not added, but that Psalm 150 was chosen or even written to conclude the whole book as a sort of grand doxology.)
II. AUTHORSHIP
116 of the 150 Psalms in the Bible have headings or superscriptions of some kind. Even some of the songs outside the Psalms (Habakkuk chapter 3) have similar features. Although some think that these headings may have been added at a later time, there are no copies or versions of the Psalms prior to the 20th Century that do not have them. Also, other ancient culture (Ugaritic, Sumerian, Egyptian) that used the same kind of headings. A shorthand history of the Hebrew text and some translations of the headings:
* 15th—5th Centuries BC Original manuscripts of the Bible written (all lost)Although the headings do not generally contain any doctrinal insights, they give background and historical context to these poems of the earliest Church.
* 3rd c. BC Septuagint (Greek translation made in Egypt). Includes Psalm headings
* 2nd c BC – 1st c AD Dead Sea Scrolls. Includes Psalm headings
* 2nd c AD Talmud. Includes evidence of Psalm headings
* 2nd c AD Other Greek translations and well as Coptic and Syriac. Includes Psalm headings
* 2nd-4th c AD Masoretic notes on the Hebrew Text. Includes detailed discussion of Psalm headings.
* 3rd c AD Origen translates the Psalms three times: the Roman Psalter, the Gallican (Vulgate) Psalter, and ‘Origen’s Psalter’ (intended for the Vulgate but replaced by his previous ‘Gallican’ version). Includes scholarly research on the headings.
A typical example of an author’s name in one of these headings is found above verse 1 in Psalm 86: A Prayer of David. David is the author of 75 of the Psalms. Other authors include Solomon, Moses, Asaph (especially in Book III), the ‘Sons of Korah,’ and a few others.
III. PARALLELISM
Since Hebrew is an inflected language, rhyme is rarely seen as a literary or poetic device. Instead, Hebrew relies on word pictures and rhythm. One of the ways Hebrew paints its word pictures is by sketching the complete border of the thought using a variety of words. One of the most common ways of this sketch is the parallel line.
Parallel lines of Hebrew poetry say either the same thing in two or more ways, or else they say the opposite thing, so that the full impact of the subject will be better understood.
There are at least five types of parallelism in the Psalms, but the main three are:
SYNONYMOUS
ANTITHETIC
SYNTHETIC
Other names have been attempted for different types (Introverted, Stair-like, Emblematic, etc.), but knowing something about these three will take you pretty far.
SYNONYMOUS PARALLELISM Restating a point using similar words.
אָשִׁירָה לַיהוָה בְּחַיָּי אֲזַמְּרָה לֵאלֹהַי בְּעוֹדִי
- I will sing to the Lord...
- I will sing praises to my God (Psalm 104:33)
ANTITHETIC PARALLELISM Restating a point with a contrast.
בֵּאלֹהִים בָּטַחְתִּי לֹא אִירָא
- In God I trust,
- I will not be afraid (Psalm 56:4) [Hebrew 56:5]
SYNTHETIC PARALLELISM Completing a point with a longer phrase.
וַיִּבְגְּדוּ כַּאֲבוֹתָם נֶהְפְּכוּ כְּקֶשֶׁת רְמִיָּה
- Like their fathers they were faithless...
- as unreliable as a faulty bow. (Psalm 78:56)
Since all three are found in Psalm 73, we will simply visit that Psalm and see how each kind of parallelism serves to carry along the message of the Holy Spirit.
PSALM 73
In his first series of lectures on the Psalms, Martin Luther called Psalm 73 “a light for resolving many scripture passages which seem to be contradictory. For while there are many passage which threaten nothing but evil to the evil and promise nothing but good to the good, there are, on the contrary, the complaints and the experience of so many… Throughout the Psalter there are the lamentations of the godly, in which it is demonstrated that the good are badly off and the evil are well off.”
An outline of this psalm:
1. 73:1-14 A Trial of Faith
- A. 73:1 The Theme: God is good to Israel
- B. 73:2-3 The Problem: My foot had almost slipped (cf. Psalm 121:3)
- C. 73:4-11 The Song of Complaint
- D. 73:12 The Antithesis of the Theme (This is what the wicked are like)
- E. 73:13-14 The Problem Restated (In vain I have kept my heart pure)
“…morning.” – center of the Psalm
2. 73:15-28 The Renewal of Faith
- A. 73:15-17 Faith renewed through worship
- B. 73:18-20 The Solution: God will bring the wicked to judgment (and a joy about “morning” as God despises the wicked like dreams/fantasies after waking)
- C. 73:21-22 Confession and humiliation
- D. 73:23-26 The Song of Faith
- E. 73:27-28 The Response of Faith: I will tell of all your deeds
Notice the various kinds of parallelism as you read the Psalm. You may wish to mark some of them—or other notes—in the margin. Remember: there doesn’t have to be parallelism. It’s just one aspect of Hebrew poetry. The first three verses are done.
JOHN 14:15-21
Sermon Exegesis for May 29th, 2011
"I will not leave you as orphans"
Jesus has been answering a question from the Apostle Philip, a request to show God the Father to them. Jesus' answer showed the union of God the Father and God the Son, and it's a legitimate question for any Christian to ask, what about God the Holy Spirit? It is to the Third Person of the Trinity that Jesus now turns.
JOHN 14:15
15 Ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με, τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσετε:
15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
Ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με "If you love me" is the protosis of a future more vivid condition. ἀγαπάω "to love (unconditionally)" is a New Testament meaning given to an older word without much emphasis. Jesus and the apostles gave it the emphasis of the unconditional love given by God to mankind; Jesus wants us to love him in the same way. We don't hold God at ransom for our desires and demands (I won't increase my offerings until God does this or that for me).
τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς "the commands that are mine." ἐντολάς is the accusative plural of ἐντολή "command, commandment, instruction."
τηρήσετε "you will obey." There is a variant reading for the future indicative τηρήσετε "you will keep" (τηρέω, "keep, observe"). Several ancient manuscripts including Papyrus 66 and Codex Siniaticus (א) have the aorist subjunctive τηρήσητε "(if) you keep," and others including Codex Alexandrinus and a great many Church fathers have the aorist imperative τηρήσατε "keep." These are all examples of a future more vivid ("third class") conditional sentence. In my judgment, the aorist τηρήσατε appears to be the most widespread with incidents occurring in all six ancient church regions (Egypt, North Africa, Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor and Gaul) during or prior to the fifth century. The other readings are more ancient but less widespread. Any of them could be correct, and I agree with the UBS committee that a "C" reading is the best we can do here.
JOHN 14:16
16 κἀγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν ἵνα μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ᾖ,
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--
The Greek word for Counselor is παράκλητoς (parakletos) or Paraclete. A Paraclete is someone called to one's side for help, so "Counselor," "Comforter" (KJV), "Advocate" (NRSV) are all good translations. He is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is described in the Bible as a separate individual within the Godhead; and theologically we use the term "person" to show that while he is united with the Father and the Son as one God, the Spirit also says and does things within his own existence that the Father and the Son do not do. For example, the Spirit is sent or given by the Son (verse 16 above). He intercedes on our behalf before God (Romans 8:26). He judges for himself what is best for us (Acts 15:28). He himself speaks to individuals (Acts 10:19; 13:2) and to the churches of all the ages (Rev. 22:17). It was the Holy Spirit who caused the authors of the Bible to write what they wrote -- to him belongs Divine Inspiration (Acts 28:25; 2 Peter 1:21).
JOHN 14:17
17 τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ ὁ κόσμος οὐ δύναται λαβεῖν, ὅτι οὐ θεωρεῖ αὐτὸ οὐδὲ γινώσκει: ὑμεῖς γινώσκετε αὐτό, ὅτι παρ' ὑμῖν μένει καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσται.
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
The reading μένει καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσται has some minor variations; the corrector of P66 seems to have been right in making the original scribe's ἔστιν into ἔσται.
Jesus tells us that the work of the Holy Spirit meets with as much opposition as that of both the Father and the Son, and that shouldn't surprise us. The world hates the truth and fights against the truth, and glibly asks "What is truth?"
We need to remember that Jesus doesn't just tell us to know about the truth and keep it locked away in our hearts like a secret, but to live our faith and obey his command to love. His command isn't motivated through fear or retribution, but through love for him and thanks for what he has done. What has he done? He has taken our sin on himself and paid the price for it with his blood. What should we do? We should lay our lives aside and give everything to him; our time, our egos, our fears, our comfort zones, our habits, our list of friends -- all of it should be transformed into service for him as if we have put on a uniform and a cross like the knights in the high Middle Ages. Except that we will not kill for him, but we will reach out with the gospel of forgiveness to wipe out the power of the devil forever, beginning today, with our own lives.
JOHN 14:18
18 Οὐκ ἀφήσω ὑμᾶς ὀρφανούς, ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Here we have come to one of the places in John's Gospel where the Lord's words soar so far over our heads that it's too easy to let them wash over us like music. But we will discover a great truth if we pay close attention to what he is saying: He will come back to "you" (ὑμᾶς...ὑμᾶς) and we should remember that he is talking directly to his eleven apostles (Judas left before the Lord's Supper was given). He has just said that soon he would be gone, and that they could not follow him, but that he would send the Paraclete, that is the Holy Spirit. So when he also says in the next breath, I will come to you, does he mean that he and the Holy Spirit are the same? Is the Holy Spirit another aspect of Jesus himself, but with something like an actor making a costume change? There were Christians in past centuries who made that connection, that the Father was the God of the Old Testament, that Jesus was the God of the Gospels, and that the Holy Spirit is the God for the rest of us until the end of time like a Greek actor changing masks. These folks thought that these were "modes" of God's appearance, and were sometimes called Modalists (more about this in the note below).
Jesus' words in verse 18 are not about his return on the Last Day, and they are not about his brief resurrection appearances. Neither views explain Jesus' assurance that he would not leave the apostles "as orphans." Rather, he is talking about the union they will have through hearts of faith because of his suffering on the cross, now just a few hours away. They would have a connection that would transcend the unseeing vision of the world. They would know that he is with them always (Matthew 28:20).
JOHN 14:19
19 ἔτι μικρὸν καὶ ὁ κόσμος με οὐκέτι θεωρεῖ, ὑμεῖς δὲ θεωρεῖτέ με, ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε.
19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
ἔτι μικρὸν "before long." Jesus is now talking about his ascension into heaven. The crucifixion looms in the doorway of this upper room; the walk up the hill to Gethsemane would be followed by his arrest and crucifixion in a matter of hours. But Jesus is looking beyond this to the future of the gospel. He is leaving his apostles and his believers in the world to continue to spread the message about Christ in the world. And there is the comfort and motivation here: "Because I live" (ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ) "you also will live" (καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε). What he has, he gives. He has life, he gives life. He has holiness, he gives holiness. He has a place in heaven, he gives a place in heaven.
JOHN 14:20
20 ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ γνώσεσθε ὑμεῖς ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί μου καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν.
20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
The "day" of verse 20 is a reference to Pentecost, the day in which the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son and was given to the Apostles in Jerusalem. That was the day in which the Apostles would "realize" the unity of the persons of the Trinity and the connection that believers have to God through faith.
The word "realize" is the Greek word ginosko (γινώσκω), which means to know something by experiencing it rather than simply by intellectual understanding. For example, I know the concept that 2+4=6 because I learned addition tables by rote as a child, but I also know that 2+4=6 through my experience, because my wife and I must figure everything according to the needs of the four boys in our house: meals for six, a car that will haul six, family devotions that apply to six, and so on. In the same way, the Apostles would know by their experience at Pentecost that the Lord was working through them; that their love for Jesus and trust in Jesus were not in vain.
We will know it all on the Last Day, too, but in this lifetime we also have this assurance from Jesus: Because he lives, we have eternal life. We love him because he loved us first and gave himself up to gather us all to his Father in heaven.
JOHN 14:21
21 ὁ ἔχων τὰς ἐντολάς μου καὶ τηρῶν αὐτὰς ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαπῶν με: ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν με ἀγαπηθήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου, κἀγὼ ἀγαπήσω αὐτὸν καὶ ἐμφανίσω αὐτῷ ἐμαυτόν.
21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
ὁ ἔχων τὰς ἐντολάς μου "Whoever has my commands" present participle (ἔχω); attributive adjectival; the article τὰς is of previous reference. What are the "commands" of Christ? Luther paraphrased the Lord: "You will administer My Word and commandments, be Christ’s apostles and preachers, and be baptized. You will hear and confess the Word publicly, in order that the world may see and hear that you are My Christians and adhere to My Word and commandments. When you do all this, you will surely experience that the devil and the world, as well as your own evil conscience and false brethren and schismatic spirits, will harass you, and that you will be surrounded by all sorts of trials, terror, anxiety, and distress." (LW 24 ad loc.) His commands are his Gospel Imperatives, to carry his word to the world.
καὶ τηρῶν αὐτὰς "and obeys them," The present participle is governed by the same article ὁ and is the same type of participle as ἔχων above.
ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαπῶν με: "he is the one who loves me." ἐκεῖνός underlines the believer described by the participles.
ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν με "He who loves me" The epithet "He who loves me" takes us to the recommissioning of Peter, "Do you truly love me?" (John 21:14-15). Jesus is telling us, in case we doubt, that we show our love for him by doing these things he has given to us, and that we who love Jesus are also loved by the Father. There is no disconnection between our love for Christ and the Father's love for us.
ἀγαπηθήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου, "will be loved by my Father," Future passive ἀγαπηθήσεται comforts us with the knowledge that God's love for us is unconditional. ὑπὸ with the genitive shows agency.
κἀγὼ ἀγαπήσω αὐτὸν "and I too will love him" Jesus doesn't do anything apart from the Father. Notice the way Jesus crafted this sentence, putting the Father above himself and yet showing the Father's love for him:
A. The one who loves me (our active love toward the Son)
B. will be loved by my Father (the Father's love toward us)
C. and I too will love him (the Son loving whom the Father loves)
Jesus' loves is not contingent on our love, but on the Father's love. And the Father loves all who put their faith in Jesus. That faith is also a gift, given by the Holy Spirit. The paradoxical mystery of God's love for us does not get easier to understand with closer scrutiny, but like fractal geometry it becomes more remarkable and mysterious as we examine it more and more closely. We are left to rejoice and sing God's praises by its intricacy. It is simple, but it is not simplistic. A child understands, and we pray for the faith of a child.
Jesus loves me; this I know.
καὶ ἐμφανίσω αὐτῷ ἐμαυτόν "and show myself to him." ἐμαυτόν "myself" is the reflexive pronoun (acc sg from ἐμαυτoῦ) formed by combining the personal ἐγω/ἐμoῦ with the intensive αὐτός (Robertson, Short Gram. §377 page 266-267).
"I will not leave you as orphans"
Jesus has been answering a question from the Apostle Philip, a request to show God the Father to them. Jesus' answer showed the union of God the Father and God the Son, and it's a legitimate question for any Christian to ask, what about God the Holy Spirit? It is to the Third Person of the Trinity that Jesus now turns.
JOHN 14:15
15 Ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με, τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσετε:
15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
Ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με "If you love me" is the protosis of a future more vivid condition. ἀγαπάω "to love (unconditionally)" is a New Testament meaning given to an older word without much emphasis. Jesus and the apostles gave it the emphasis of the unconditional love given by God to mankind; Jesus wants us to love him in the same way. We don't hold God at ransom for our desires and demands (I won't increase my offerings until God does this or that for me).
τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς "the commands that are mine." ἐντολάς is the accusative plural of ἐντολή "command, commandment, instruction."
τηρήσετε "you will obey." There is a variant reading for the future indicative τηρήσετε "you will keep" (τηρέω, "keep, observe"). Several ancient manuscripts including Papyrus 66 and Codex Siniaticus (א) have the aorist subjunctive τηρήσητε "(if) you keep," and others including Codex Alexandrinus and a great many Church fathers have the aorist imperative τηρήσατε "keep." These are all examples of a future more vivid ("third class") conditional sentence. In my judgment, the aorist τηρήσατε appears to be the most widespread with incidents occurring in all six ancient church regions (Egypt, North Africa, Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor and Gaul) during or prior to the fifth century. The other readings are more ancient but less widespread. Any of them could be correct, and I agree with the UBS committee that a "C" reading is the best we can do here.
JOHN 14:16
16 κἀγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν ἵνα μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ᾖ,
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--
The Greek word for Counselor is παράκλητoς (parakletos) or Paraclete. A Paraclete is someone called to one's side for help, so "Counselor," "Comforter" (KJV), "Advocate" (NRSV) are all good translations. He is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is described in the Bible as a separate individual within the Godhead; and theologically we use the term "person" to show that while he is united with the Father and the Son as one God, the Spirit also says and does things within his own existence that the Father and the Son do not do. For example, the Spirit is sent or given by the Son (verse 16 above). He intercedes on our behalf before God (Romans 8:26). He judges for himself what is best for us (Acts 15:28). He himself speaks to individuals (Acts 10:19; 13:2) and to the churches of all the ages (Rev. 22:17). It was the Holy Spirit who caused the authors of the Bible to write what they wrote -- to him belongs Divine Inspiration (Acts 28:25; 2 Peter 1:21).
JOHN 14:17
17 τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ ὁ κόσμος οὐ δύναται λαβεῖν, ὅτι οὐ θεωρεῖ αὐτὸ οὐδὲ γινώσκει: ὑμεῖς γινώσκετε αὐτό, ὅτι παρ' ὑμῖν μένει καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσται.
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
The reading μένει καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσται has some minor variations; the corrector of P66 seems to have been right in making the original scribe's ἔστιν into ἔσται.
Jesus tells us that the work of the Holy Spirit meets with as much opposition as that of both the Father and the Son, and that shouldn't surprise us. The world hates the truth and fights against the truth, and glibly asks "What is truth?"
We need to remember that Jesus doesn't just tell us to know about the truth and keep it locked away in our hearts like a secret, but to live our faith and obey his command to love. His command isn't motivated through fear or retribution, but through love for him and thanks for what he has done. What has he done? He has taken our sin on himself and paid the price for it with his blood. What should we do? We should lay our lives aside and give everything to him; our time, our egos, our fears, our comfort zones, our habits, our list of friends -- all of it should be transformed into service for him as if we have put on a uniform and a cross like the knights in the high Middle Ages. Except that we will not kill for him, but we will reach out with the gospel of forgiveness to wipe out the power of the devil forever, beginning today, with our own lives.
JOHN 14:18
18 Οὐκ ἀφήσω ὑμᾶς ὀρφανούς, ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Here we have come to one of the places in John's Gospel where the Lord's words soar so far over our heads that it's too easy to let them wash over us like music. But we will discover a great truth if we pay close attention to what he is saying: He will come back to "you" (ὑμᾶς...ὑμᾶς) and we should remember that he is talking directly to his eleven apostles (Judas left before the Lord's Supper was given). He has just said that soon he would be gone, and that they could not follow him, but that he would send the Paraclete, that is the Holy Spirit. So when he also says in the next breath, I will come to you, does he mean that he and the Holy Spirit are the same? Is the Holy Spirit another aspect of Jesus himself, but with something like an actor making a costume change? There were Christians in past centuries who made that connection, that the Father was the God of the Old Testament, that Jesus was the God of the Gospels, and that the Holy Spirit is the God for the rest of us until the end of time like a Greek actor changing masks. These folks thought that these were "modes" of God's appearance, and were sometimes called Modalists (more about this in the note below).
Jesus' words in verse 18 are not about his return on the Last Day, and they are not about his brief resurrection appearances. Neither views explain Jesus' assurance that he would not leave the apostles "as orphans." Rather, he is talking about the union they will have through hearts of faith because of his suffering on the cross, now just a few hours away. They would have a connection that would transcend the unseeing vision of the world. They would know that he is with them always (Matthew 28:20).
JOHN 14:19
19 ἔτι μικρὸν καὶ ὁ κόσμος με οὐκέτι θεωρεῖ, ὑμεῖς δὲ θεωρεῖτέ με, ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε.
19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
ἔτι μικρὸν "before long." Jesus is now talking about his ascension into heaven. The crucifixion looms in the doorway of this upper room; the walk up the hill to Gethsemane would be followed by his arrest and crucifixion in a matter of hours. But Jesus is looking beyond this to the future of the gospel. He is leaving his apostles and his believers in the world to continue to spread the message about Christ in the world. And there is the comfort and motivation here: "Because I live" (ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ) "you also will live" (καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε). What he has, he gives. He has life, he gives life. He has holiness, he gives holiness. He has a place in heaven, he gives a place in heaven.
JOHN 14:20
20 ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ γνώσεσθε ὑμεῖς ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί μου καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν.
20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
The "day" of verse 20 is a reference to Pentecost, the day in which the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son and was given to the Apostles in Jerusalem. That was the day in which the Apostles would "realize" the unity of the persons of the Trinity and the connection that believers have to God through faith.
The word "realize" is the Greek word ginosko (γινώσκω), which means to know something by experiencing it rather than simply by intellectual understanding. For example, I know the concept that 2+4=6 because I learned addition tables by rote as a child, but I also know that 2+4=6 through my experience, because my wife and I must figure everything according to the needs of the four boys in our house: meals for six, a car that will haul six, family devotions that apply to six, and so on. In the same way, the Apostles would know by their experience at Pentecost that the Lord was working through them; that their love for Jesus and trust in Jesus were not in vain.
We will know it all on the Last Day, too, but in this lifetime we also have this assurance from Jesus: Because he lives, we have eternal life. We love him because he loved us first and gave himself up to gather us all to his Father in heaven.
JOHN 14:21
21 ὁ ἔχων τὰς ἐντολάς μου καὶ τηρῶν αὐτὰς ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαπῶν με: ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν με ἀγαπηθήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου, κἀγὼ ἀγαπήσω αὐτὸν καὶ ἐμφανίσω αὐτῷ ἐμαυτόν.
21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
ὁ ἔχων τὰς ἐντολάς μου "Whoever has my commands" present participle (ἔχω); attributive adjectival; the article τὰς is of previous reference. What are the "commands" of Christ? Luther paraphrased the Lord: "You will administer My Word and commandments, be Christ’s apostles and preachers, and be baptized. You will hear and confess the Word publicly, in order that the world may see and hear that you are My Christians and adhere to My Word and commandments. When you do all this, you will surely experience that the devil and the world, as well as your own evil conscience and false brethren and schismatic spirits, will harass you, and that you will be surrounded by all sorts of trials, terror, anxiety, and distress." (LW 24 ad loc.) His commands are his Gospel Imperatives, to carry his word to the world.
καὶ τηρῶν αὐτὰς "and obeys them," The present participle is governed by the same article ὁ and is the same type of participle as ἔχων above.
ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαπῶν με: "he is the one who loves me." ἐκεῖνός underlines the believer described by the participles.
ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν με "He who loves me" The epithet "He who loves me" takes us to the recommissioning of Peter, "Do you truly love me?" (John 21:14-15). Jesus is telling us, in case we doubt, that we show our love for him by doing these things he has given to us, and that we who love Jesus are also loved by the Father. There is no disconnection between our love for Christ and the Father's love for us.
ἀγαπηθήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου, "will be loved by my Father," Future passive ἀγαπηθήσεται comforts us with the knowledge that God's love for us is unconditional. ὑπὸ with the genitive shows agency.
κἀγὼ ἀγαπήσω αὐτὸν "and I too will love him" Jesus doesn't do anything apart from the Father. Notice the way Jesus crafted this sentence, putting the Father above himself and yet showing the Father's love for him:
A. The one who loves me (our active love toward the Son)
B. will be loved by my Father (the Father's love toward us)
C. and I too will love him (the Son loving whom the Father loves)
Jesus' loves is not contingent on our love, but on the Father's love. And the Father loves all who put their faith in Jesus. That faith is also a gift, given by the Holy Spirit. The paradoxical mystery of God's love for us does not get easier to understand with closer scrutiny, but like fractal geometry it becomes more remarkable and mysterious as we examine it more and more closely. We are left to rejoice and sing God's praises by its intricacy. It is simple, but it is not simplistic. A child understands, and we pray for the faith of a child.
Jesus loves me; this I know.
καὶ ἐμφανίσω αὐτῷ ἐμαυτόν "and show myself to him." ἐμαυτόν "myself" is the reflexive pronoun (acc sg from ἐμαυτoῦ) formed by combining the personal ἐγω/ἐμoῦ with the intensive αὐτός (Robertson, Short Gram. §377 page 266-267).
More about Modalism: In the 200's AD (the third century), a Christian named Sabellius was not happy with the doctrine of the trinity and opposed it. He was following the non-Trinitarian teachings of two earlier men: Noetus and Praxeas. Tertullian, living at the same time, had attacked the teaching of Praxeas by saying that "he put to flight the Paraclete, and he crucified the Father" (Against Praxeas, Chap. 1). Some Sabellian teachings continue today in a branch of the Pentecostal church called the "Jesus' Name doctrine" or "Oneness Pentecostalism" that denies that "the words Father, Son and Holy Ghost were [ever] used in Christian baptism" (from a sermon by R.E. McAlister, April, 1913 at Arroyo Seco, California).
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Psalm 1:1-6
PSALM 1:1
The first Psalm sets the stage for the entire book of Psalms: Whom do we worship? And what does that path of worship involve? These questions must be answered before the worship in the Psalms can truly begin. Worship of the true God begins with trusting in God above all things. The second Psalm, which I would maintain is also introductory, shows our relationship with the Son of God.
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. (NIV)
The first Psalm doesn't contain any commands. It takes a gospel-centered approach to state the truth. There are only two ways for anyone. There is no "third" way. There is either the way of God, or the way of the wicked. The "wicked" in the Psalm would include hypocrites, unbelievers, hypostates (people who have fallen away) and anyone else who rejects the true God. When Balaam the false prophet was speaking God's word by the grace of God and not by his own will (as his donkey did), he said longingly, "Who can count the dust of Jacob...? Let me die the death of the righteous" (Numbers 23:10).
The first Psalm presents these basics for us: (1) The way of the righteous is the only way that leads to life (avoid everything else, verses 1-3); (2) The way of the wicked leads only to death (verses 4-5), and (3) the two ways are separate (verse 6).
The three verbs, walk..., stand..., sit..., show a dangerously increasing familiarity with the ways of the unrighteous. Don't take his advice, don't hang out with him, and don't become him. The three words that describe the wicked also tell us something: The wicked (Hebrew resha'im) are people who are guilty of breaking God's commands, even in their thoughts. Sinners (chata'im) are guilty of sins they have committed in their deeds, stepping over God's line. Mockers (letsim) are those who have sinned with their words in foolish or sinful speech. This is a reminder that sin can happen in our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. Any sins break God's laws. All sins need to be forgiven by God.
That's what makes the Savior's work so essential. There is no way to approach our holy God in our sinful unholiness, unholy in our thoughts, our words and our actions. We need the Savior, whose actions, whose words and whose very thoughts made us right with God. His blood atoned for all of our sins, and now we can approach God with our prayers assured that he hears us and answers us. And more than that, we can rest assured that on the last day we will rise from our graves and stand before God unafraid, because our sins are forgiven.
We are at peace with God because we are blessed by the Man who never walked in the counsel of the wicked, who never stood in the way sinners go, and who never sat in the seat of mockers. He stood in the counsel of the Father, he stood on the path of righteousness, and he sat upon the foal of a donkey and hung on the cross.
And for that we praise him with our lives. Teach us to praise you and live for you, Jesus.
PSALM 1:2
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (NIV)
In the Psalms, the word "law" (torah) is used in a narrow sense and in a wider sense. The narrow sense is the one we probably think about first when we hear the word law; the sense of things God has commanded, and especially those things God commanded for his people Israel when they were with Moses in their forty years of wandering. These laws come in three varieties, the Ceremonial Law regulating the worship life of Israel and the sacrifices, the Civil Law regulating business and social issues like land, animals and marriage, and the Moral Law governing basic principals and providing the building blocks of justice: the Ten Commandments.
There is a wider sense of the word "law." The narrow sense of the law only convicts and puts up boundaries. A human being could never be right with God by keeping the law, because a human being is sinful from birth and even from conception. So the "law" in the narrow sense cannot be something a man delights in as we have here in the Psalm. The wider sense of "law" is the complete counsel of God: all of God's word, including both law and gospel. That "law and gospel" sense of torah is the meaning of "law" in places like Psalm 119:29, "be gracious to me through your law," in Psalm 119:174, "I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight," and Isaiah 42:4, "In his law the islands will put their hope."
The word for "meditate" in the parallel second half means "to mutter." In ancient times, it was considered rude and probably suspicious to read silently to oneself. People who could read, read aloud. But if they were reading only to themselves, they would probably mutter or mumble the words. And if a person were walking down the street and thinking about the Word of God, he would probably mutter to himself. It was a cultural habit with which we might not be comfortable, but the sense here is that a person who wanted to truly remember God's word would have it on his lips (not just a figure of speech) constantly.
The Shepherd of Hermas is a very early Christian book about a man who sees many visions and who appears to possess the spiritual gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 12:10, 14:22). In it, Hermas says "I was sitting in my house glorifying the Lord for everything I had seen and meditating on the commandments because they were beautiful, joyous, glorious and able to save the soul of man" (Similitude 6, chapter 1, verse 1). There, too, the sense of the laws and "commandments" is that they (1) are to be meditated upon and (2) that they are able to save souls. This is the sense we have in the Psalm. And so we mediate on the saving word of God.
That's how we can be prepared "in and out of season" for whatever happens (2 Timothy 4:2). The word of God should be part of our lives; and especially the great gospel of Jesus. It's because of Jesus that we know that the Lord has been gracious to us (Psalm 119:29), that we have the salvation we long for (Psalm 119:174), and it's in Jesus that we truly have hope (Isaiah 42:4).
O Lord, teach to meditate on your law and your gospel both day and night.
PSALM 1:3
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (NIV)
The Hebrew word for "stream" is not the usual word for a river or even an arroyo or rain-fed gulch. It is peleg, a common word for "irrigation canal" or "channel." Sometimes it is used metaphorically for the channel cut by tears (Lam. 3:48) or even rain (Job 38:25). Here it is a reference to a hand-made channel of water: Hand-made, but here not man-made. The righteous man is planted by God himself next to a stream of water, which in turn was intentionally placed there by the hand of God.
Where we find ourselves in life is not an accident. We may be subject to the consequences of our own sins, or of the sins of others (like Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt), but God is still there, using our circumstances for our good. This verse is not meant to confuse us, or make us wonder how we got where we are. It's here for our comfort, reminding us that wherever we are, God is there, too. And God is able to bless us and work through us no matter how rough our lives become. Like Joseph in Pharaoh's prison, he may have work for us to do; work to which only hardship can lead us. But through it all, God is there, bringing forth fruit in our lives, and making us prosper.
PSALM 1:4-5
The first Psalm sets the stage for the entire book of Psalms: Whom do we worship? And what does that path of worship involve? These questions must be answered before the worship in the Psalms can truly begin. Worship of the true God begins with trusting in God above all things. The second Psalm, which I would maintain is also introductory, shows our relationship with the Son of God.
אַשְׁרֵי הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָלַךְ בַּעֲצַת רְשָׁעִים
וּבְדֶרֶךְ חַטָּאִים לֹא עָמָד וּבְמוֹשַׁב לֵצִים לֹא יָשָׁב
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. (NIV)
The first Psalm doesn't contain any commands. It takes a gospel-centered approach to state the truth. There are only two ways for anyone. There is no "third" way. There is either the way of God, or the way of the wicked. The "wicked" in the Psalm would include hypocrites, unbelievers, hypostates (people who have fallen away) and anyone else who rejects the true God. When Balaam the false prophet was speaking God's word by the grace of God and not by his own will (as his donkey did), he said longingly, "Who can count the dust of Jacob...? Let me die the death of the righteous" (Numbers 23:10).
The first Psalm presents these basics for us: (1) The way of the righteous is the only way that leads to life (avoid everything else, verses 1-3); (2) The way of the wicked leads only to death (verses 4-5), and (3) the two ways are separate (verse 6).
The three verbs, walk..., stand..., sit..., show a dangerously increasing familiarity with the ways of the unrighteous. Don't take his advice, don't hang out with him, and don't become him. The three words that describe the wicked also tell us something: The wicked (Hebrew resha'im) are people who are guilty of breaking God's commands, even in their thoughts. Sinners (chata'im) are guilty of sins they have committed in their deeds, stepping over God's line. Mockers (letsim) are those who have sinned with their words in foolish or sinful speech. This is a reminder that sin can happen in our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. Any sins break God's laws. All sins need to be forgiven by God.
That's what makes the Savior's work so essential. There is no way to approach our holy God in our sinful unholiness, unholy in our thoughts, our words and our actions. We need the Savior, whose actions, whose words and whose very thoughts made us right with God. His blood atoned for all of our sins, and now we can approach God with our prayers assured that he hears us and answers us. And more than that, we can rest assured that on the last day we will rise from our graves and stand before God unafraid, because our sins are forgiven.
We are at peace with God because we are blessed by the Man who never walked in the counsel of the wicked, who never stood in the way sinners go, and who never sat in the seat of mockers. He stood in the counsel of the Father, he stood on the path of righteousness, and he sat upon the foal of a donkey and hung on the cross.
And for that we praise him with our lives. Teach us to praise you and live for you, Jesus.
PSALM 1:2
כִּי אִם בְּתוֹרַת יְהוָה חֶפְצוֹ
וּבְתוֹרָתוֹ יֶהְגֶּה יוֹמָם וָלָיְלָה
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (NIV)
In the Psalms, the word "law" (torah) is used in a narrow sense and in a wider sense. The narrow sense is the one we probably think about first when we hear the word law; the sense of things God has commanded, and especially those things God commanded for his people Israel when they were with Moses in their forty years of wandering. These laws come in three varieties, the Ceremonial Law regulating the worship life of Israel and the sacrifices, the Civil Law regulating business and social issues like land, animals and marriage, and the Moral Law governing basic principals and providing the building blocks of justice: the Ten Commandments.
There is a wider sense of the word "law." The narrow sense of the law only convicts and puts up boundaries. A human being could never be right with God by keeping the law, because a human being is sinful from birth and even from conception. So the "law" in the narrow sense cannot be something a man delights in as we have here in the Psalm. The wider sense of "law" is the complete counsel of God: all of God's word, including both law and gospel. That "law and gospel" sense of torah is the meaning of "law" in places like Psalm 119:29, "be gracious to me through your law," in Psalm 119:174, "I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight," and Isaiah 42:4, "In his law the islands will put their hope."
The word for "meditate" in the parallel second half means "to mutter." In ancient times, it was considered rude and probably suspicious to read silently to oneself. People who could read, read aloud. But if they were reading only to themselves, they would probably mutter or mumble the words. And if a person were walking down the street and thinking about the Word of God, he would probably mutter to himself. It was a cultural habit with which we might not be comfortable, but the sense here is that a person who wanted to truly remember God's word would have it on his lips (not just a figure of speech) constantly.
The Shepherd of Hermas is a very early Christian book about a man who sees many visions and who appears to possess the spiritual gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 12:10, 14:22). In it, Hermas says "I was sitting in my house glorifying the Lord for everything I had seen and meditating on the commandments because they were beautiful, joyous, glorious and able to save the soul of man" (Similitude 6, chapter 1, verse 1). There, too, the sense of the laws and "commandments" is that they (1) are to be meditated upon and (2) that they are able to save souls. This is the sense we have in the Psalm. And so we mediate on the saving word of God.
That's how we can be prepared "in and out of season" for whatever happens (2 Timothy 4:2). The word of God should be part of our lives; and especially the great gospel of Jesus. It's because of Jesus that we know that the Lord has been gracious to us (Psalm 119:29), that we have the salvation we long for (Psalm 119:174), and it's in Jesus that we truly have hope (Isaiah 42:4).
O Lord, teach to meditate on your law and your gospel both day and night.
PSALM 1:3
וְהָיָה כְּעֵץ שָׁתוּל עַל־פַּלְגֵי־מָיִם
אֲשֶׁר פִּרְיוֹ יִתֵּן בְּעִתּוֹ וְעָלֵהוּ לֹא־יִבּוֹל
וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר־יַעֲשֶׂה יַצְלִיחַ
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (NIV)
The Hebrew word for "stream" is not the usual word for a river or even an arroyo or rain-fed gulch. It is peleg, a common word for "irrigation canal" or "channel." Sometimes it is used metaphorically for the channel cut by tears (Lam. 3:48) or even rain (Job 38:25). Here it is a reference to a hand-made channel of water: Hand-made, but here not man-made. The righteous man is planted by God himself next to a stream of water, which in turn was intentionally placed there by the hand of God.
Where we find ourselves in life is not an accident. We may be subject to the consequences of our own sins, or of the sins of others (like Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt), but God is still there, using our circumstances for our good. This verse is not meant to confuse us, or make us wonder how we got where we are. It's here for our comfort, reminding us that wherever we are, God is there, too. And God is able to bless us and work through us no matter how rough our lives become. Like Joseph in Pharaoh's prison, he may have work for us to do; work to which only hardship can lead us. But through it all, God is there, bringing forth fruit in our lives, and making us prosper.
PSALM 1:4-5
לֹא־כֵן הָרְשָׁעִים כִּי אִם־כַּמֹּץ אֲשֶׁר־תִּדְּפֶנּוּ רוּחַ
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. (NIV)
The prophet Hosea may have been thinking of this Psalm when he said, "They sins more and more... therefore they will be like chaff swirling from a threshing floor, like smoke escaping from a window" (Hosea 13:2,3). Chaff is the stuff left over when grain is beaten so that the good kernel of wheat can be removed. The farmer tosses everything into the air, and the good kernels fall back down, but the light and useless chaff is blown away by the wind. On Judgment Day, God will sort the believers from the unbelievers, leaving no one in the middle. We are either Christ's followers or we aren't, and those who aren't will be sent away into hell.
A person shows his faith with the confession of his mouth and the confession of his life. He proclaims who his God is by what he says and does. He embraces the cross, or he rejects it. And so on the Last Day, "each person was judged according to what he had done... If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:13, 15).
So we hang on to Jesus. Because of Jesus, there will no longer be any curse (Rev. 22:3). As Jesus threshes mankind, we will keep on falling down at his feet. Our tears will be dried, our troubles will be over, our sins will be forgotten and forgiven, and we will have peace.
PSALM 1:6
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (NIV)
What does it mean to be "righteous"? The person who is right with God is not a person who decided to be righteous, but a person God forgave. God is the one who reaches out to us with his gospel of forgiveness, and he makes us his own by removing the guilt of our sins forever.
Look at the widow of Zarephath. She didn't choose God. She was outside Israel, both physically and spiritually. But when Israel rejected God, Elijah was sent outside the land to the village of Zarephath in the far northwest, and she was given all of the blessings God had given Israel in miniature: She was given bread, she was given the word of God, a prophet was sent to her, and for the first time in the Bible, she was even permitted to experience what the resurrection is all about when Elijah raised her son from the dead. And unlike Israel, she put her faith in God and trusted in God's word. She said, "I know that you are a man of God, and the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth" (1 Kings 17:24).
The Lord watched over her, and made her his own. And the Lord will watch over you. Trust in him; trust his forgiveness, and all of his other blessings will be yours; even eternal life in Jesus.
עַל־כֵּן לֹא־יָקֻמוּ רְשָׁעִים בַּמִּשְׁפָּט וְחַטָּאִים בַּעֲדַת צַדִּיקִים
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. (NIV)
The prophet Hosea may have been thinking of this Psalm when he said, "They sins more and more... therefore they will be like chaff swirling from a threshing floor, like smoke escaping from a window" (Hosea 13:2,3). Chaff is the stuff left over when grain is beaten so that the good kernel of wheat can be removed. The farmer tosses everything into the air, and the good kernels fall back down, but the light and useless chaff is blown away by the wind. On Judgment Day, God will sort the believers from the unbelievers, leaving no one in the middle. We are either Christ's followers or we aren't, and those who aren't will be sent away into hell.
A person shows his faith with the confession of his mouth and the confession of his life. He proclaims who his God is by what he says and does. He embraces the cross, or he rejects it. And so on the Last Day, "each person was judged according to what he had done... If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:13, 15).
So we hang on to Jesus. Because of Jesus, there will no longer be any curse (Rev. 22:3). As Jesus threshes mankind, we will keep on falling down at his feet. Our tears will be dried, our troubles will be over, our sins will be forgotten and forgiven, and we will have peace.
PSALM 1:6
כִּי־יוֹדֵעַ יְהוָה דֶּרֶךְ צַדִּיקִים וְדֶרֶךְ רְשָׁעִים תֹּאבֵד
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (NIV)
What does it mean to be "righteous"? The person who is right with God is not a person who decided to be righteous, but a person God forgave. God is the one who reaches out to us with his gospel of forgiveness, and he makes us his own by removing the guilt of our sins forever.
Look at the widow of Zarephath. She didn't choose God. She was outside Israel, both physically and spiritually. But when Israel rejected God, Elijah was sent outside the land to the village of Zarephath in the far northwest, and she was given all of the blessings God had given Israel in miniature: She was given bread, she was given the word of God, a prophet was sent to her, and for the first time in the Bible, she was even permitted to experience what the resurrection is all about when Elijah raised her son from the dead. And unlike Israel, she put her faith in God and trusted in God's word. She said, "I know that you are a man of God, and the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth" (1 Kings 17:24).
The Lord watched over her, and made her his own. And the Lord will watch over you. Trust in him; trust his forgiveness, and all of his other blessings will be yours; even eternal life in Jesus.
Hebrews 13:20-21
Sermon exegesis for May 15, 2011.
This benediction is used at the final graveside service concluding Lutheran funerals. It is packed with reminders of God's grace and blessings.
20 ῾Ο δὲ θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης, ὁ ἀναγαγὼν ἐκ νεκρῶν τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου, τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν ᾽Ιησοῦν, 21 καταρτίσαι ὑμᾶς ἐν παντὶ ἀγαθῷ εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, ποιῶν ἐν ἡμῖν τὸ εὐάρεστον ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ διὰ ᾽Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας [τῶν αἰώνων]· ἀμήν.
20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD IS OUR GREAT SHEPHERD
1. The servant who worked out our salvation (verse 20)
2. The one who equips us to work in his service (verse 21)
Exegesis
῾Ο δὲ θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης, ''Of peace'' is a descriptive genitive (the most common type); more than ''peaceful God,'' he is the God who is characterized by true peace. Paul uses this same title for God a few times (Rom. 15:33; 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:11), and it's not surprising to find it elsewhere in the NT. The Christian Jews (''Hebrews'') of this letter needed to hear about peace since there was often strife between them and the people around them. The Judaizers in particular made life and matters of faith very difficult for them.
ὁ ἀναγαγὼν ἐκ νεκρῶν, aorist participle (m nom sg) ἀνάγω ''lead, bring up.'' ἐκ νεκρῶν adj gen pl. ''from the dead.'' This is is the resurrection of Christ, the promise we all have of our own resurrection.
τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν, n acc sg; n gen pl; adj acc sg modifies ποιμένα. The ''great shepherd of the sheep'' is a reference to Christ's own title, ''The Good Shepherd'' (John 10:11; 10:14) and to the shepherd references throughout the Old Testament (Mic. 5:4, etc.). The ''Great'' part of the reference may recall Ezekiel 34:23 where ''my servant David'' is a Messianic prophecy, or even to 1 Peter 5:4 and the ''Chief Shepherd'' (ἀρχιποίμενος). A shepherd cares for the flock, and the Great Shepherd or Chief Shepherd is certainly Christ.
ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου, dative with ἐν draws a sphere: Our Great Shepherd has been raised through the blood of the eternal covenant, and only those raised through that blood are saved. The eternal covenant reminds us of the requirements of blood sacrifices in the Old Testament Law, not ignored or bypassed by Jesus, but kept perfectly and fulfilled literally ''to the last drop'' on our behalf.
τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν, ᾽Ιησοῦν, n acc sg; the accusative case marks the object of ἀναγαγὼν ''who raised'' above. The ''our'' (ἡμῶν) here is a wonderful gospel pronoun, for Christ is not just anyone's lord, but OURS, and each one of us lays claim to him by faith.
καταρτίσαι ὑμᾶς, aorist optative 3 sg καταρτίζω ''mend, supply.'' καταρτίζω is not quite ''to make perfect'' (KJV), but ''to fill up one's needs.'' Here ''equip'' is a good translation. The optative (the only example in Hebrews) is an optative proper, in other words, an attainable wish (BDF §384). We needn't take it as being any farther from ''reality'' or ''attainableness'' than a subjunctive; doubtless the apostle simple used the optative idiomatically. The apostle reflects some more of Peter's language here (1 Peter 5:10).
ἐν παντὶ ἀγαθῷ, ''in everything good.'' That is, in the sphere of anything and everything that fits under God's holy and timeless judgment of ''good'' (Genesis 1:10. etc.). The difference between the kalon (tob) of Genesis 1:10 and the agatho here is that this word means ''useful,'' and the prayer here is that God would make each one of us useful for his kingdom. This is a prayer for the tools of sanctification. That is to say, God does not give us the tools to save ourselves or be justified (Jesus did that for us), but God gives us what is necessary for serving him and responding to what Christ has done.
εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι, aorist infinitive with εἰς, to express purpose. ''To do...''
τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, ''his will.'' The will of God includes his commands and prohibitions such as the Ten Commandments, but also his will that all mankind would be saved through Christ. Here, the θέλημα of God is certainly an application of the Third Use of the Law, the will of God guiding our lives of faith.
ποιῶν ''working,'' present participle. God's will is right now working in us (present participle) .
ἐν ἡμῖν τὸ εὐάρεστον ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ''in you what is pleasing in his sight.'' God supplies what he demands of us. It comes from him and is acceptable to him. Where does God do this? Do we need to go and look for it? No--it is ''in us'' already. We ourselves are the sphere of God's workmanship.
διὰ ᾽Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, We are the object of his work, and Jesus Christ is the carpenter, hammering, shaving, planing and fitting us into place. He glues up our joints and fastens together our parts so that we are tools fit for service in the kingdom of God. In our sanctified, forgiven lives, we work for our Great Shepherd.
ᾧ ἡ δόξα , ''to whom be glory.'' δόξα or 'glory' is a word that begins with one's private opinion (God is glorified in our hearts first), to public opinion (among many), and finally to his great reputation. We don't glorify God by making his face cleaner or his teeth brighter although we sometimes think of ''glory'' as being external, like the shining glory of the Lord. But we glorify him with how we make him known and beloved by many other people.
εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ''forever (and ever).'' The glory and high esteem we give to God outlives us.
[τῶν αἰώνων]· The textual question here is the lack of the genitive duplication ''and ever'' in certain manuscripts. It would hardly be a question except that Papyrus 46 (c. 200 AD, Africa) omits the phrase (I have a copy of this important manuscript in my office -- this passage is on the final leaf of the existing manuscript). Whether or not the reduplicated phrase should be here doesn't change the theology or meaning of the text, but simply the emphasis (NIV doesn't even include this as a footnote). I will not treat the matter in the pulpit.
ἀμήν. ''Amen'' is the assertion of the truth of an oath or a prayer, or an acceptance of a task allotted to mankind by God. It is the doxology of the first four books of the Psalms (41:13; 72:19; 89:52 and 106:48). It is (1) a liturgical statement in worship, a response to God's commands and promises. It is also (2) a conclusion to a prayer, hymn or doxology to assert truth. It is finally (3) a word used BEFORE sayings by Jesus calling attention to the importance of a statement, ''Amen, amen, I say to you...'' Here the Amen is both (1) and (2).
This benediction is used at the final graveside service concluding Lutheran funerals. It is packed with reminders of God's grace and blessings.
20 ῾Ο δὲ θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης, ὁ ἀναγαγὼν ἐκ νεκρῶν τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου, τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν ᾽Ιησοῦν, 21 καταρτίσαι ὑμᾶς ἐν παντὶ ἀγαθῷ εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, ποιῶν ἐν ἡμῖν τὸ εὐάρεστον ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ διὰ ᾽Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας [τῶν αἰώνων]· ἀμήν.
20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD IS OUR GREAT SHEPHERD
1. The servant who worked out our salvation (verse 20)
2. The one who equips us to work in his service (verse 21)
Exegesis
῾Ο δὲ θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης, ''Of peace'' is a descriptive genitive (the most common type); more than ''peaceful God,'' he is the God who is characterized by true peace. Paul uses this same title for God a few times (Rom. 15:33; 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:11), and it's not surprising to find it elsewhere in the NT. The Christian Jews (''Hebrews'') of this letter needed to hear about peace since there was often strife between them and the people around them. The Judaizers in particular made life and matters of faith very difficult for them.
ὁ ἀναγαγὼν ἐκ νεκρῶν, aorist participle (m nom sg) ἀνάγω ''lead, bring up.'' ἐκ νεκρῶν adj gen pl. ''from the dead.'' This is is the resurrection of Christ, the promise we all have of our own resurrection.
τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν, n acc sg; n gen pl; adj acc sg modifies ποιμένα. The ''great shepherd of the sheep'' is a reference to Christ's own title, ''The Good Shepherd'' (John 10:11; 10:14) and to the shepherd references throughout the Old Testament (Mic. 5:4, etc.). The ''Great'' part of the reference may recall Ezekiel 34:23 where ''my servant David'' is a Messianic prophecy, or even to 1 Peter 5:4 and the ''Chief Shepherd'' (ἀρχιποίμενος). A shepherd cares for the flock, and the Great Shepherd or Chief Shepherd is certainly Christ.
ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου, dative with ἐν draws a sphere: Our Great Shepherd has been raised through the blood of the eternal covenant, and only those raised through that blood are saved. The eternal covenant reminds us of the requirements of blood sacrifices in the Old Testament Law, not ignored or bypassed by Jesus, but kept perfectly and fulfilled literally ''to the last drop'' on our behalf.
τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν, ᾽Ιησοῦν, n acc sg; the accusative case marks the object of ἀναγαγὼν ''who raised'' above. The ''our'' (ἡμῶν) here is a wonderful gospel pronoun, for Christ is not just anyone's lord, but OURS, and each one of us lays claim to him by faith.
καταρτίσαι ὑμᾶς, aorist optative 3 sg καταρτίζω ''mend, supply.'' καταρτίζω is not quite ''to make perfect'' (KJV), but ''to fill up one's needs.'' Here ''equip'' is a good translation. The optative (the only example in Hebrews) is an optative proper, in other words, an attainable wish (BDF §384). We needn't take it as being any farther from ''reality'' or ''attainableness'' than a subjunctive; doubtless the apostle simple used the optative idiomatically. The apostle reflects some more of Peter's language here (1 Peter 5:10).
ἐν παντὶ ἀγαθῷ, ''in everything good.'' That is, in the sphere of anything and everything that fits under God's holy and timeless judgment of ''good'' (Genesis 1:10. etc.). The difference between the kalon (tob) of Genesis 1:10 and the agatho here is that this word means ''useful,'' and the prayer here is that God would make each one of us useful for his kingdom. This is a prayer for the tools of sanctification. That is to say, God does not give us the tools to save ourselves or be justified (Jesus did that for us), but God gives us what is necessary for serving him and responding to what Christ has done.
εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι, aorist infinitive with εἰς, to express purpose. ''To do...''
τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, ''his will.'' The will of God includes his commands and prohibitions such as the Ten Commandments, but also his will that all mankind would be saved through Christ. Here, the θέλημα of God is certainly an application of the Third Use of the Law, the will of God guiding our lives of faith.
ποιῶν ''working,'' present participle. God's will is right now working in us (present participle) .
ἐν ἡμῖν τὸ εὐάρεστον ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ''in you what is pleasing in his sight.'' God supplies what he demands of us. It comes from him and is acceptable to him. Where does God do this? Do we need to go and look for it? No--it is ''in us'' already. We ourselves are the sphere of God's workmanship.
διὰ ᾽Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, We are the object of his work, and Jesus Christ is the carpenter, hammering, shaving, planing and fitting us into place. He glues up our joints and fastens together our parts so that we are tools fit for service in the kingdom of God. In our sanctified, forgiven lives, we work for our Great Shepherd.
ᾧ ἡ δόξα , ''to whom be glory.'' δόξα or 'glory' is a word that begins with one's private opinion (God is glorified in our hearts first), to public opinion (among many), and finally to his great reputation. We don't glorify God by making his face cleaner or his teeth brighter although we sometimes think of ''glory'' as being external, like the shining glory of the Lord. But we glorify him with how we make him known and beloved by many other people.
εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ''forever (and ever).'' The glory and high esteem we give to God outlives us.
[τῶν αἰώνων]· The textual question here is the lack of the genitive duplication ''and ever'' in certain manuscripts. It would hardly be a question except that Papyrus 46 (c. 200 AD, Africa) omits the phrase (I have a copy of this important manuscript in my office -- this passage is on the final leaf of the existing manuscript). Whether or not the reduplicated phrase should be here doesn't change the theology or meaning of the text, but simply the emphasis (NIV doesn't even include this as a footnote). I will not treat the matter in the pulpit.
ἀμήν. ''Amen'' is the assertion of the truth of an oath or a prayer, or an acceptance of a task allotted to mankind by God. It is the doxology of the first four books of the Psalms (41:13; 72:19; 89:52 and 106:48). It is (1) a liturgical statement in worship, a response to God's commands and promises. It is also (2) a conclusion to a prayer, hymn or doxology to assert truth. It is finally (3) a word used BEFORE sayings by Jesus calling attention to the importance of a statement, ''Amen, amen, I say to you...'' Here the Amen is both (1) and (2).
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