Tag: Exposition

The Effect of the Lord’s Supper
Scripture Reading

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but appeared in these last times for the sake of you
21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a love of the brothers without hypocrisy, fervently love one another from the heart,
23 for you have been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
24 For,
“All flesh is like grass,
And all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
And the flower falls off,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word which was proclaimed to you as good news. (1 Peter 1:20–25, LSB)

Introduction

The Lord’s Supper is an act of remembrance of the Lord’s final meal with His beloved disciples.

In that event, private, quiet, and normal in so many other ways, the Lord Jesus Christ conducted the men into a new and living way,¹ a way that is the foundational expression of the New Covenant that God was to make with Israel, but Israel rejected…gladly.

Because Israel refused to repent, the Lord turned His attention to the people, by passing the leaders of Israel, and to the nations.

He did this by gathering Jews and Gentiles apart from the national identification with Israel, into a “new man,” a whole new group called “the church.”

14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition
15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, the Law of commandments² contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might create the two into one new man, making peace,
16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having in Himself put to death the enmity.
17 And He came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;
18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:14–18, LSB)

The distinction between the Jew and the Gentile has always been the Law of Moses, the “Law of commandments,” as Paul calls it.

The need for Israel to obey the Law, which required complete confession of sin and repentance, which they did not do, in order to see the promise to Abraham come to them, kept them from ever seeing the promise to Abraham.

However, now, that promise can come since, in Christ, the Law is not fulfilled (i.e. kept obediently by the Jews), but the sinner dies in Christ.

4 So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:4–6, LSB)

The Law could never be kept by Israel.

Their dead spiritual condition made it impossible to obey the Law and keep the covenant with YHWH.

Therefore, the curses of the Law were on them.

However, as Jesus Christ died at the hands of men, God also places men in that death with Him so that the Law can no longer hold the man, the Jew.

And, if that is the case for the Jew, the Gentiles are hopeless.

They have no Law, and no part in the covenant(s).

Yet, because of the kindness of YHWH, and His marvelous plan, He has extended the righteousness of the forgiveness of sins, i.e. the New Covenant, to the nations.

This incredible and unique accomplishment by the Lord was done at the hands of His death.

His death made the Jew die to the Law so that he could be made new again and be reconciled.

His death made the Gentile, without covenants, the Law, or hope, die to the flesh, the world, the devil, so that he could be made new again and be reconciled.

This very radical and complex accomplishment by the Lord, and His death on the cross at the hands of men, is the very heart of the New Covenant.

It is His death that did this.

And, it is this multifaceted accomplishment that His death succeeded in securing.
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Therefore....
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The memorial we keep, by the Lord’s command (Luke 22:19; cp 1 Corinthians 11:23-25), is a memorial of His death.

This death, more than just a sacrifice for us so that we could go to heaven, but was a satisfaction of the Father’s plan, and accomplished the needed death of the elect so that the provisions of the New Covenant could come to both Jews and Gentiles, irregardless of whether the New Covenant was to be made with Israel or not.

The Need For Love In The Church

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 11:27, LSB)

It makes sense, then, that eating the bread and drinking the cup in a way that does not resemble the motive and heart of the original bread and cup of Christ’s last meal, one we have examined a lot, makes the Christian guilty of tremendous charge against God.

This is to such a degree that Paul even says that a man or woman who does this is “guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”

“Guilty”

ἔνοχος ἔσται = he is guilty of a legal charge against some law.

9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. (James 2:9–10, LSB)

This is the idea that the example and instruction of Jesus Christ to remember His death is the responsibility of the disciples.³

Therefore, to do that in a way that does NOT fundamentally resemble His body and blood is to change that act into something else.

Further, and this is what makes us “guilty,” we are fundamentally not saying the correct explanation of the death of Christ.

The guilt is not “guilt” as in breaking the Law of Moses since the Law of Moses did not contain any kind of teaching concerning the body and blood of the Messiah.

Rather, the guilt is the disobedience to the pattern set down by Christ at the Last Supper by:
1. Washing the feet
  1. Giving His body for death
    
    Giving His blood in death
    
    Loving the disciples even into the point of death
These are things the Lord set down as a pattern (not the actual acts, since we cannot repeat the sacrificial death) the motive, the heart.

12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
13 “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.
14 “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.⁴
16 “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.
17 “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. (John 13:12–17, LSB)

13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. (John 13:1, LSB)

The example of Jesus Christ towards His disciples, an example He instructed the disciples to follow, was the example of serving the saints to the point of self-disregard.

This is exactly what Paul is identifying in his rebuke of the Corinthians.

He is bringing to their attention that they are in sin because of the selfishness and haughtiness that has filled their assembly, and especially the Lord’s Supper/Table.
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What is an “unworthy manner”?
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14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
15 I speak as to prudent people. You judge what I say.
16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:14–17, LSB)

21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? •Are we stronger than He? ]
23 All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things build up.
24 Let no one seek his own good, but that of the other person. (1 Corinthians 10:21–24, LSB)

Paul deal with this earlier in the book.

The problems of the corruption of the assembly of the church was on his mind, and the echo of all the corruption is reverberating throughout the rebuke.

17 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.
18 For, in the first place, •when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part I believe it.
19 For there must also be factions among you, so that •those who are approved may become evident among you.
20 Therefore when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper,
21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first, and one •is hungry and another is drunk.
22 For •do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. (1 Corinthians 11:17–22, LSB)

Do you remember what Paul reprimanded the Corinthians about earlier in the chapter?

“I do not praise you…What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you!”

= inclusio

Paul cannot praise, congratulate, the Corinthians for their behavior during the worship assembly, particularly the Lord’s Supper meal.

20 Therefore when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper,
21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first, and one •is hungry and another is drunk.

The Corinthians were mechanically meeting, but were exercising the self-same mechanics without the same motive.

Paul’s conclusion?

“Therefore when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper…”

Paul is separating the mechanics from the motive.

How sad!!

There are factions, divisions, and these are not the example and pattern of the Lord’s Supper.

17 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.
18 For, in the first place, •when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part I believe it.
19 For there must also be factions among you, so that •those who are approved may become evident among you.
20 Therefore when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, (1 Corinthians 11:17–20, LSB)

”…you come together not for the better, but for the worse…”

“…for the better…”

It would be “for the better” if they met as a church for the right reasons.

This is a reference to coming together the way meant it to be.

“…for the worse…”

It is “for the worse” because they met as a church for the wrong reasons.

This is a reference to coming together the way it was not meant to be.

“for in your eating each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk. (1 Corinthians 11:21, LSB)
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And, Paul’s commentary on their behavior is:
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“For do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. (1 Corinthians 11:22, LSB)

Therefore, the “unworthy manner” of which Paul is writing to the Corinthians must include all the sinful behavior of the Corinthians.

However, it particularly refers to the audacious, selfish, self-important, and unloving behavior of the influential, and worldly.

Other Warnings

29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. (1 Corinthians 11:29–30, LSB)

32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:32, LSB)

V.29 = warning to not eat and drink resulting in judgment.

V.30 = those who have eaten and drunk unworthily have been punished by the Lord.

V.32 = when Christ punishes us, we are then given opportunity to not be ultimately punished by the Lord the way He punishes the world.

32 κρινόμενοι δὲc ὑπὸ [τοῦ] κυρίουd παιδευόμεθα, ἵνα μὴ σὺν τῷ κόσμῳ κατακριθῶμεν. (1 Corinthians 11:32, UBS5)

How can the believer be condemned along with the world?

Why would Paul even say this?

It is not commendable to be punished by the Lord in this life.

It is no badge of honor to be handed over to the Lord for punishment.

In fact, Paul tells the believers how to avoid such chastening, even though this kind of chastening is a proof of sonship.

5And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;

6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,

And He flogs every son whom He receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our benefit, so that we may share His holiness.

11 And all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful, but to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:5–11, LSB)

Paul’s Correction

28 But a man must test himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (1 Corinthians 11:28, LSB)

The call from Paul is for repentance from this sin by means of examining themselves before it is too late.

Paul warns the Corinthians that the remedy is self-verification.

“examine” = “certify” “ prove” “verify what you are made of/that you are valuable”

“δόκιμος as an adj. both of person and object thus denotes a. “tested in battle,” “reliable,” “trustworthy,” b. “a man who is tested, significant, recognised, esteemed, worthy” (e.g., πολίτου δοκίμου ἡ ἀρετὴ εἶναι τὸ δύνασθαι καὶ ἄρχειν καὶ ἄρχεσθαι καλῶς, Aristot. Pol., III, 4, p. 1277a, 26f.; Λυκούργου, τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν δοκίμου ἀνδρός, Hdt. I, 65: καλέσας δώδεκα τοὺς δοκιμωτάτους, Jos. Vit., 55), or “an object which is tested, genuine or valuable” (τούτους δοκίμοις ἵπποις καὶ ὅπλοις παρεσκευασμένους, Xenoph. Oec., 4, 7); it is particularly used of metals, as consistently in the LXX, Gn. 23:16; 1 Ch. 28:18; 29:4; 2 Ch. 9:17;”⁵

Paul instructs the believers to examine themselves.

What does it mean to “examine yourself”?

It means to think about your motive and conduct and compare that with the objective facts of Scripture’s record of Jesus Christ (ie what He did).

This assumes objective evidence of these conditions.

29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. (1 Corinthians 11:29–30, LSB)

32But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:32, LSB)

Conclusion

Example:

The Seven Churches of Asia Minor
1. The Church At Ephesus
  4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
  5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first. But if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent. (Revelation 2:4–5, LSB)
  1. The Church At Smyrna
    9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
    10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:9–10, LSB)
  2. The Church At Pergamum
    14 ‘But I have a few things against you, that you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.
    15 ‘So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
    16 ‘Therefore repent. But if not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. (Revelation 2:14–16, LSB)
  3. The Church At Thyatira
    20‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and deceives My slaves so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
    21 ‘And I gave her time to repent, and she does not wish to repent of her sexual immorality.
    22 ‘Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.
    23 ‘And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. (Revelation 2:20–23, LSB)
  4. The Church At Sardis
    3:1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:
    This is what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
    2 ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God.
    3 ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.
    4 ‘But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.
    5 ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:1–5, LSB)
  5. The Church At Philadelphia
    8 ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have given before you an open door which no one can shut•, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
    9 ‘Behold, I am giving up those of the synagogue of Satan, those who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them •come and bow down before your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.
    10 ‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
    11 ‘I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. (Revelation 3:8–11, LSB)
  6. The Church At Laodicea
    15‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot.
    16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
    17 ‘Because you say•, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.
    18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be manifested; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
    19 ‘Those whom •I love, I reprove and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent. (Revelation 3:15–19, LSB)
1. 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
  20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
  21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
  22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19–22, LSB) ↩
2. The Law of Commandments is not between God and Israel, but between Israel and Gentiles. ↩
3. 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.
  27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 11:26–27, LSB)
  When a church misunderstands and misrepresents the sufficiency, extent, and efficacy of the death of Christ, and then resembles those misrepresentations in the Lord’s Supper memorial, then that Table is misrepresenting the death of Christ, and those doing it are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
  It is that serious. ↩
4. The Lord cannot be saying, “Imitate the foot washing.” But, why not? We imitate the bread and the cup. Why not the foot washing? It seems that the Lord did not want us to imitate the foot washing, 1) because that was not the point of the meal, as the sacrifice of His body and blood was, 2) although the foot washing would be no more mechanical than the bread and cup, that act, although motivated by love, is not efficacious, 3) it is the motive which the Lord seems to be emphasizing. How do I know these things? Because, commemorating the act which was predetermined before the foundation of the World, and which provides atonement, and which is the core of the work of Christ, is the point. Everything revolves around that. Besides, there is no other instruction in the NT that the foot washing, 1) accompanied the Lord’s Supper (Paul did not mention it), 2) that it was part of the church’s assembly (except 1 Timothy 5:10, which refers to the normal act of service and hospitality of women in the home towards their guests). ↩
5. Walter Grundmann, “Δόκιμος, Ἀδόκιμος, Δοκιμή, Δοκίμιον, Δοκιμάζω, Ἀποδοκιμάζω, Δοκιμασία,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 255. ↩
April 26, 2026
The Lord’s Supper and the New Covenant – pt.7
Scripture Reading

13 Therefore, having girded your minds for action, being sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
14 As obedient children, not being conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,
15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct;
16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
17 And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your sojourn,
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your futile conduct inherited from your forefathers,
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (1 Peter 1:13–19, LSB)

Introduction

Review:

Paul wrote,

25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25, LSB)

The importance of the Lord’s last meal with His disciples is directly linked to the importance of the New Covenant.

As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Jesus is “our Passover,” a statement of monumental importance.

“our” = the church, believers, Jews and Gentiles who believe in the Messiah.

Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, also was sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7, LSB)

He is not the Passover Lamb of the Exodus.

His blood “speaks better than that of Abel,” and the Passover lamb of the Exodus.

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
23 to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22–24, LSB)

The blood of Christ, which is a reference to His death, which was a predetermined death “instead of” the death for the sins of the elect, accomplished more and was from a better Man than even that of Abel.

“…saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.” (Luke 9:22, LSB)

22“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—
23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death.
24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. (Acts 2:22–24, LSB)

What was the result of His death?

1. His death justified the sons of God.
1. 45“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45, LSB)
  
  11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
  He will see it and be satisfied;
  By His knowledge the Righteous One,
  My Servant, will justify the many,
  As He will bear their iniquities.
  12 Therefore, I will divide for Him a portion with the many,
  And He will divide the spoil with the strong;
  Because He poured out His soul to death,
  And was numbered with the transgressors;
  Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
  And interceded for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:11–12, LSB)
2. His death pleased the Father.
1. 16 “And I have other sheep, which are not from this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
  17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
  18 “No one takes it away from Me, but from Myself, I lay it down. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” (John 10:16–18, LSB)
1. But Yahweh was pleased
  To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
  If You would place His soul as a guilt offering,
  He will see His seed,
  He will prolong His days,
  And the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in His hand. (Isaiah 53:10, LSB)
1. His death condemned Satan.
1. And I will put enmity
  Between you and the woman,
  And between your seed and her seed;
  He shall bruise you on the head,
  And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15, LSB)
  
  9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
  10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
  “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.
  11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witness, and they did not love their life even to death. (Revelation 12:9–11, LSB)
1. His death confirmed the New Covenant.
1. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,
  14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
  15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the trespasses that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:13–15, LSB)
  
  10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no authority to eat.
  11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.
  12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. (Hebrews 13:10–12, LSB)
1. His death was the means of the resurrection.
1. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
  4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:3–4, LSB)
  
  20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus,
  21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20–21, LSB)
The hidden plan of God, although hinted at in the OT, was that the Lamb of God, the Son, would be put to death in a particular fashion (crucifixion), with a particular means (betrayal), and by particular parties (Jewish leaders).

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight,
9 making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him
10 for an administration of the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth in Him. (Ephesians 1:7–10, LSB)

Therefore, the purpose of God was that the Son would pay the death penalty on behalf of men, such that He could rescue them from death, the penalty of Adam’s sin.

This leads us into the final consideration of the plan of God regarding the New Covenant:
1. The New Covenant is the very core of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. The New Covenant unites the OT and the NT.
3. The New Covenant clarifies who Israel is.
4. The New Covenant clarifies who the church is.

5. The New Covenant is the only covenant made with Israel which forgives sins.

6. Without the New Covenant, all the elect would remain in their sins.

The Incognito Ministry of the Messiah

And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was. (Mark 3:12, LSB)
And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. (Mark 7:36, LSB)
And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that some food should be given to her to eat. (Mark 5:43, LSB)

The Lord established in His ministry the constant order to hold back from telling the people Who He was.

This meant that He was not wanting the people to know about Him as Messiah, but only that He would do the works of the Messiah letting people to draw the conclusions based upon that.

This was so that the true nature of the leadership of Israel would become evident, thus leading to the crucifixion, the necessary death of the New Covenant Lamb of God.

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, saying, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. (Matthew 16:13–21, LSB)
```
Have you ever wondered why Jesus would say this? 
```
It is because of the requirement that He would draw out the murderous hearts of the leadership, their jealousy, by His works, and drive them to the murder that would 1) seal their eternal damnation, and 2) secure the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb.

36 “But the witness I have is greater than the witness of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness about Me, that the Father has sent Me.
37 “And the Father who sent Me, He has borne witness about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.
38 “And you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. (John 5:36–38, LSB)

This death, produced by the jealousy of the leadership of Israel as they witnessed His works, instead of snuffing out His influence, secured the atoning sacrifice for the sins of Israel and Gentiles…forever!

Therefore, His kingdom was secured by His death and resurrection, but not through the nation of Israel, although the Mosaic Law is the keep component in fulfilling that kingdom promise, which was communicated in the Abrahamic Promise.

His Kingdom, then, has been taken away from the nation of Israel, and given to the nations of the world!

The Parable:

33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.
34 “Now when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit.
35 “And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third.
36 “Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.
37 “But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 “But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’
39 “And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?”
41 They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
This has become the chief corner stone;
This came about from the Lord,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation, producing the fruit of it.
44 “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
45 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.
46 And although they were seeking to seize Him, they feared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a prophet. (Matthew 21:33–46, LSB)

The Son came into the world, and the world did not receive Him-neither the Jews nor the Romans.

The end result was that the Son would be killed, and made to look like the enemy of the world.

This death, seeming to be the execution of a failed insurrectionist, in realty secured the atonement needed to accomplish the plan of God.

This death, as described for the last 6 weeks, has a vast array of accomplishments.

Not the least of which is the creation of a following known as the “church.”

The New Covenant clarifies who the church is.

It is this following that Jesus came to create.

17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (Matthew 16:17–18, LSB)

The church is a group of people, chosen before the foundation of the world, who will inherit the promise to the Son, i.e. sonship.

The means by which these people will become sons and daughters is the sacrifice of the Man, Christ Jesus, satisfying the Father, and permitting their own justification.

This group, then, is different from Israel in that, unlike Israel, it has received the benefits of the New Covenant.

Israel has not received the promises of the New Covenant because they have not confessed their sins, as John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ, commanded them to do.

Therefore, the New Covenant is experience of the church, and not Israel.

13 and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the consequence of what was being brought to an end.
14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is brought to an end in Christ.
15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart,
16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (2 Corinthians 3:13–16, LSB)

One of the clearest distinctions, if not the most clear, between the church and Israel is that the church has received the benefits of the New Covenant, and Israel has not.

It is really that simple; that basic.

The New Covenant is the only covenant made with Israel which forgives sins.

33 “But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
34 “And they will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33–34, LSB)

The previous covenants with Israel (Abrahamic, Priestly, Mosaic, Davidic) do nothing to take away sins.

8 The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the holy places has not yet been manifested while that first part of the tabernacle is still standing,
9 which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience,
10 since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, requirements for the body imposed until a time of reformation. (Hebrews 9:8–10, LSB)

Sin is the symptom of a spiritually dead person.

In order to make a worshipper clean, he must become perfect in conscience, and in order to do that, he must become new since he is dead to God.

This power to re-create the dead person is simply the work of God to join a spiritually dead person to Jesus Christ in His death.

It is also the work of God to join the spiritually dead person to Jesus Christ in His resurrection.

This power is inherent to the New Covenant.
```
NOTE: Jeremiah 31 does not tell us HOW God is going to accomplish this work of 1) forgiveness of sins, 2) indwelling of the Holy Spirit, 3) making a new heart (Ezekiel 36). 
```
But, we now know that all these things are accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ.

6. Without the New Covenant, all the elect would remain in their sins.

As stated, there are no arrangements, with Israel nor anyone else, in which a person who is dead to God would be made alive to Him.

The only means by which God can accomplish His eternal purpose is by forgiveness of sins.

And the only means by which He can forgive sins is if someone die in the place of the sinner.

The Death of the Mediator

15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the trespasses that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. (Hebrews 9:15–16, LSB)

We learn that the requirements of the Old Covenant were that the agreement was made, and Israel failed to follow through.

That created a binding to the agreement from which Israel could not release herself.

Therefore, in order to realize the Abrahamic Covenant, sins had to be forgiven, but they could not be forgiven in a vacuum.

Rather, sins had to be forgiven of the guilty by means of the death of the innocent, and thereby the death of the guilty.

3 Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died has been justified from sin. (Romans 6:3–7, LSB)

THIS IS HOW WE HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED-WE DIED, IN AND ALONG WITH, HIM!

“Christ’s death alone is the ground of our justification, and when we make that our own by faith we are united with Christ—united with him in his death, united with him in his burial, united with him in his rising again, united with him in life.”¹

Isaiah 53:11 (LSB)
```
     11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, 
     He will see it and be satisfied; 
     By His knowledge the Righteous One, 
     My Servant, will justify the many, 
     As He will bear their iniquities.
```
The Death of the Believer

Not only has the Passover Lamb died, but we, previously dead to God (in Adam), died in union with Him.

12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 And you being dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions.² (Colossians 2:12–13, LSB)

The reality, when God made the promise of the New Covenant to Israel, all the while knowing that they would not repent, and all the while knowing what He would do, He then took those promises to Israel and have given them to the church, Gentiles.

Further, the mystery of the kingdom is that we are united with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection.

This is unique to the church, and is not what will happen to Israel in the future.

25 of which I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God given to me for you, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,
26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,
27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:25–27, LSB)

In no way does this destroy the need for Israel to repent.

In no way does this remove the land, kingdom, Abrahamic promise from Israel .

In no way does this remove the national condition of Israel in the future.

However, in this Messianic age, this Kingdom age, this Church Age, the promise to forgive sins, indwell men with the Spirit of God, give a new heart/spirit, are all promises given to the church due to Israel’s refusal to repent.

Without the New Covenant, all the elect would remain in their sins.
Ephesians 2:1–7 (LSB)
```
1 And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, 
3 among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 
4 But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, 
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
```
“Even as the rest”

= the elect were just as dead to God as those who will never be saved.

The conclusion of this is that we were by nature children of wrath.

That is to say that we were destined for wrath just as the wicked are.

“When we were dead in our transgressions…”

= dead

Romans 5:12 (LSB)
```
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
```
Summary

As you can see, the statement by the Lord that His blood was the “blood of the New Covenant” was a huge and vast statement spanning many different situations and conditions.

Here is the review of it all:
1. The Corinthians had degenerated their assembly to remember the Lord’s Last Supper to a scramble for privilege and priority.
  1. This completely contradicted the Lord’s example in washing the feet of the disciples.
    
    This also contradicted the cross, upon which the Lord shed His blood for a sacrifice.
  2. The disciples and the Lord met over the Passover meal in order to commemorate the Passover in Exodus.
    
    However, the Lord took liberties pertaining to washing, the Passover meal, the cup, and Himself.
    
    In doing so, He demonstrated that He is the Passover Lamb of God, not of the Exodus.
    
    His body and blood were to be commemorated by the disciples thereafter.
  3. The body of Jesus Christ was designed and created by the Father to bear the punishment of sins, although He, Himself, was sinless.
    
    His bodily death would establish that the Father’s plan to make sons and daughters of God has been accomplished.
    
    Since the children were spiritually dead, so the Son of God became a Man in order to rescue (“seek and save the lost” – Luke 19:10; cf Hebrews 2:9-14).
  4. The blood of Jesus Christ was “poured out”³ on behalf of the “many.”
    
    This blood was His life, His “soul.”
    
    This blood was from “our Passover,” the Passover of the New Covenant.
  5. Israel was called to the Kingdom of the Messiah, the Kingdom of Heaven, but they would not repent.
    
    The Kingdom was handed over to the nation producing the fruit of it, the Gentiles.
    
    They became the church, a collection of the elect who believe in Jesus Christ as Messiah.
  6. The nation of Israel will, one day, by the means of the New Covenant, keep their covenant, confessing their sins, and the sins of their fathers, and look at the One they pierced with incredible regret and repentance.
    
    This will usher in the Kingdom of God.
    
    This will also fulfill the promise to the Son.
  7. As a result, the church is the bearer of the New Covenant ministry of the Messiah by means of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
    
    When we preach Christ, and Him crucified, we are preaching the sacrifice of the Lamb for the New Covenant.
    
    Men and women can have their sins forgiven, be in dwelt with the Holy Spirit, and receive a new heart fit for likeness to Jesus Christ.
    
    These are the promises of the New Covenant.
Conclusion

The Lord Jesus Christ must not be minimized, neglected, nor misrepresented by the Corinthian’s sinful selfishness in their commemoration of the Lord’s Supper.

By their scramble for the chiefs seats in Titius’ home, the neglect of the poorer brethren, and the self-elevation based upon their favorite, idolized teachers, the Corinthians completely denied the Lord they professed.

15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
16 They profess to know God, but by their works they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and unfit for any good work. (Titus 1:15–16, LSB)

The contemporary church also does the Lord’s Supper in similar selfishness when she takes it with ignorance, selfish self-righteousness, and a general unwillingness to conduct themselves among the body with love and self-denial, as Jesus did in that upper room that night.
1. Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 247. ↩
2. This is the New Covenant!! ↩
3. Psalm 2:6; cp. Isaiah 53:12 ↩
April 18, 2026
The Span of Time

“You sound like what I heard growing up!”

That was a comment after church service Sunday. That sister in Christ, who is in her mid-fifties, her statement was in reference to my sermon in which I introduced what Scripture says concerning “ages.” She was referring to the things her dad taught her, what she heard in churches as a young girl, and the general mood of that day.

That statement really got me thinking. It occurred to me as well that the things I taught were something like what I used to hear in the early years of my walk with Christ. The distinctions of times, and ages, and Israel, and the church, all seemed to be regular fair.

But now, the mood has changed. The atmosphere of the teaching in mainstream Christianity seems to have shifted 1) to oppose the distinction of ages in history, or 2) to completely ignore and neglect those things altogether.

I believe that now, more than at any time, we need to explain that there are distinct ages, or dispensations, of time in the plan of God. These are distinctions that are designed by God based upon clear statements in the Scripture and not manufactured by man’s imagination. Once these things are cleared up, I believe the history of God’s eternal purpose in Christ becomes clearer than ever.

The Ends of the Ages

1 Corinthians 10:11 (LSB)

“11Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived.”

This is Paul’s warning to the Corinthian church about their penchant for craving “evil things” (v.6). Israel’s tendency was to pursue a course of misbehavior as it regards idolatry, sexual unrighteousness, and grumbling. The history of Israel is replete with examples of these sins. Paul’s indication is that the Corinthians were in the same boat, as it were, and they also craved evil things.

But, what is curious is the subtle, and then not-so-subtle, statements regarding the progress of time, and the condition of Israel, being inconclusive without the church. What I mean is, it seems that Paul is indicating that over the eons what happened to Israel was not simply factual history. It was all, indeed, events that were meant to benefit the church, a dispensation of time wherein men and women, slave and freemen, Jew and Gentile, would benefit from the New Covenant seemingly designed only for Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-33).

They Could Not Be Perfected Without Us

“because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:40, LSB)

This statement from Hebrews is very similar in emphasis in 1 Corinthians 10. The indication of the writer of Hebrews is that the fathers, Israel, the prophets, and the godly men and women of Hebrews 11 were not the end-all of God’s plan. The writer is identifying the reality that, in God’s wise intention, there would exist a future people, future to the people listed in Hebrews 11, who also would “be perfected.” The complete sanctification, which is idea of “perfection,” of a people including, but not limited to, Israel and the progenitors of Israel, was God’s intention (Hebrews 2:10).

This is wonderful news! It is incredible to think that in the plan and purpose of God, He would conceive of the concentration of His covenants and Temple, and His Law, upon one nation, with the intention all along to bring that nation to the point that they would abandon those things, and her God, for evil things such that God would then turn His (predetermined) eye beyond Israel and to the nations (Gentiles). The genius, the brilliance, and wonder, of it all demonstrates a level of purpose and plan and power far beyond the imagination. The purpose and plan of Yahweh to preconceive of this extensive ambition is magnificent. But, now consider, that the power that is required to move in the hearts and events of Israel in order to accomplish His purpose and plan is nothing short of absolutely divine and must cause us to bow in worship.

Having His purpose to determine that He would bring a people into an assembly completely apart from national identity, biology, and even apart from an external script of worship (i.e. a Temple and sacrifices), shows a quality of perfection that, apparently, could never have been possible in the worship economy of Israel.

Why? Why was it impossible to perfect a people before us? Because, we are the church. The church is a body gathered together from tribes, languages, nations, from around the globe and based solely on a single thread of commonality-we believe the Messiah has come in the flesh (1 John 4:2). This faith in Jesus of Nazareth is the only common thread of our existence that we have. Without it, there is no church. Without it, there is no salvation. And, without it, there is no “ends of the ages.”

Jesus Had To Come; Jesus Had To Die

When Paul wrote, “…upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived,” he was referencing the above fact, that the ages of time in human history have come to their climax. In other words, the whole point of God’s plan is now complete. The Messiah is the Son of God, and He arrived in the flesh of men (John 1:14), and He accomplished all the Father had given Him to accomplish while in the flesh (John 17:4). Now, the Father is able to fulfill His unfathomable plan in Christ. Nothing else is needed in order to do that.

Why did Jesus have to come in the flesh, though? Was there a specific reason in order to motivate such a plan? Was there some kind of purpose beyond time, and “eternal purpose”? Absolutely, there was! The coming of Messiah, the Son of God, was the hinge pin of His plan, the event that would accomplish the predetermined purpose of the Father. Once again, the writer of Hebrews teaches us what that purpose was.

”5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,”

“Sacrifice and offering You have not desired,

But a body You have prepared for Me;

6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure.

7 “Then I Said, ‘Behold, I have come,

In the scroll of the book it is written of Me,

To do Your will, O God.’” (Hebrews 10:5–7, LSB)

The entire sacrificial and offering ritual system, the dominant component of their Law (v.8), was given to Israel in order to cover their sins. However, it was clear that the system was not able to perfect the worshippers because 1) they kept sinning, 2) the atonement was temporary. And, remember, it is perfection that God is after for both Israel and those to come beyond Israel. The rituals of the Law, which were dependent upon the behavior of already-fallen man, simply did not accomplish perfection. It couldn’t. And yet, it was a system of worship that God Himself gave to Israel to perform, under penalty of death (Hebrews 2:2).

However, there needed to be something beyond the earthy and the temporary to accomplish the needed completion of the eternal atonement. After all, God did promise to the Son an inheritance. The Spirit told David about that conversation in eternity in Psalm 2:8

“‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,

And the ends of the earth as Your possession.” (Psalm 2:8, LSB)

The record states that the Son was commanded to ask the Father for an inheritance to possess forever. The inheritance consisted of nations (“people”), and the entire earth. These things were the components of creation, destroyed by the fall of Adam. The people of the earth were subject to death (Hebrews 2:14-15; cf. Romans 5:12ff), and the earth was subject to a curse of “futility” (Romans 8:20). Both components of the Son’s inheritance were effectively destroyed.

How could they be recovered? What needed to happen in order to restore the plan for the Son? In a word, an atonement was needed. The recovery is called “redemption,” but the need was an atonement. Something had to cancel the death judgment in order to bring back the life that was lost. And THAT is why Christ died. His death satisfied the Father’s will. His obedience was not the obedience of the Mosaic Law, but the obedience of death of crucifixion.

It was His death on a Roman cross, condemned by the Jews apart from the Romans, that introduced the death of the Messiah into history. That action pleased the Father because through death Jesus Christ was able to absorb the death God pronounced upon Adam, and his progeny, such that death would be destroyed and life would then constitute the nature of the elect.

In so doing, Jesus Christ is now able to receive the kingdom promised to Him, and to us, from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34). In order for the Son to have many brethren, they would need to rule with Him since they would need to be like Him. This redemption gives to us the new nature, a new heart necessary to enter into that kingdom forever. Those whose heart has not been re-created by the Holy Spirit, based upon the death of Jesus Christ, will not, cannot, inherit the Kingdom of God. As Paul wrote, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”(1 Corinthians 15:50). The corruption of the body is permanent. It cannot be improved upon. I can only be created all over again. Only God can do that, and He does in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5).

Jesus Had To Be Raised

The death of Christ, really the entire suffering of Christ from the Garden of Gethsemane to the wooden stake between two thieves, completed the atonement that the Father witnessed and thereby “justified the many” (Isaiah 53:10-11).

The evidence that the atonement was satisfactory, propitiatory, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That resurrection establishes, once and for all time, the absolute completion of the Father’s plan to redeem the kingdom of the Son. His resurrection from the dead ended the “work” of Christ such that Jesus could say that He has accomplished the work the Father gave Him to do (John 17:4). It was by this work, the manifesting of the name of the Father upon the earth, and having drawn the men and women who were given to Him by the Father to Himself.

Once all of that which could be done in the flesh and only accomplished during the earthly ministry of the incarnate Son of God was essentially accomplished, then the Son could be raised from the dead and given life again, bodily, and return to heaven seated next to the Father. Death could not keep the eternal purpose of the Father from happening.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is what the Old Testament calls being “begotten.” The term refers to being brought into life, usually by childbirth. However, in the case of the Messiah, it is a reference to His being brought into life by bodily resurrection from the dead. Again, Psalm 2 gives us the meaning:

“I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh:

He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You. (Psalm 2:7, LSB)

“Today I have begotten You” is a component of the Father’s plan to raise Jesus Christ from the dead in bodily form on a particular day (see Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5; 5:5). The third day, the very morning of that day, Jesus Christ was restored to His body, a newly created body that was not free of scars, but was free of death.

Thereby, being raised from the dead, He was then able to be received back into heaven once again. The magnanimous and rich and unfathomable work of the Father was completed! The Son is declared to be such with power (Romans 1:2-4), and will return again in power in order to receive His inheritance, and inheritance of love (John 3:35).

Conclusion

Now, post-resurrection, we are in the ends of the ages. The dispensations of time leading up to the cross of Christ, then emanating from that cross to our day, and on into the coming again of the Sun to physically take over His kingdom, a kingdom filled with lawlessness and lawless ones. The church of Jesus Christ awaits her Rapture. She anticipates that rescue out of the world in order to be saved from the wrath to come (Romans 5:9). But, for now, we live in the special time of post-Messiah, post-resurrection, which identifies this age as the end.

September 4, 2025

What Comes First: Hermeneutics or Exegesis?

The Ridge or the Base

For those who are aware of the issues, the above question is a significant one. For those who are not aware of the issues, let me summarize for you so that this essay makes some contribution to the next time you open the Bible and read.

The issue raised by this question is the quandary of whether a man A) should read Scripture with interpretation in mind first, or B) whether he should disband the attempt to interpret until after he has done the work of exegesis. Or, in other words, should the Bible be read with a intent to interpret, or should he deal with the words on the page as words before he can interpret?

The position of this essay is B. It will become evident that before any interpretation can be done, a man must work through the meaning of the words on the page of Scripture first. That work is called “exegesis.” It is similar to scaling a mountain by establishing a base in order to begin the ascent to the ridge.

Definitions

In order to make sure we are all playing the same game, we need to understand the definitions of the terms germane to our discussion.

Inerrancy
- The quality and nature of the Bible, the 66 books of the Protestant canon, being from God through the pens of men, make the Bible a singular revelation, self-disclosure.
- This collection of writings, in the original forms, were without error in form, content, and syntax.

Exegesis
- “Exegesis” is the critical or technical application of hermeneutical principles to a biblical text in the regional language with a view to the exposition or declaration of its meaning.”¹
- I will take some liberties with this definition pertinent to our discussion.

Hermeneutics ²
- “Hermeneutics is the science of interpretation.“
- It is a science, and not an art.

Exposition
- “’Exposition’ is defined as a discourse setting forth the meaning of a passage in a popular form.” ³
- In other words, “exposition” is the proclamation a man does after he has worked hard at Exegesis and Hermeneutics.

These definitions are not my own, necessarily. However, I believe these definitions as my own. I will make a distinction in the term Exegesis that needs to be clarified, but otherwise they are what I believe.

First Step

The basis of exegetical, hermeneutical, and expositional work is Inerrancy. Once Inerrancy is removed, redefined, or altered in any way, the other three components come crashing down. Inerrancy is the quality of the original manuscripts and are the only manuscripts of that nature in history. ⁴ Therefore, with that as the basis, how we work through the text of Scripture will reveal how well we understand and respect Inerrancy.

The process of the determination of whether Exegesis comes before Hermeneutics, or the other way around, is based upon Inerrancy. Inerrancy affirms that every word, word form, word arrangement, and every detail of those arrangements, in the original languages, is inspired and cannot be altered without doing harm to the Spirit-inspired meaning of the text.

For example, Paul wrote:

Galatians 3:16 (LSB)

¹⁶ Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. ⁵

The Greek text is as follows:

Galatians 3:16 (UBS5)

¹⁶ τῷ δὲ Ἀβραὰμ ἐρρέθησαν αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ. οὐ λέγει, Καὶ τοῖς σπέρμασιν, ὡς ἐπὶ πολλῶν ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐφʼ ἑνός, Καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου, ὅς ἐστιν Χριστός. ⁶

In this example, one of many that I could use, Paul demonstrates his argument of the Messianic Kingdom, as promised to Abraham and his “seed,” with the noun “seed” as singular. Paul tells that the original text of Genesis 17:7, as found in the Hebrew language there, is not plural as in “seeds.” But, if we look into that passage, we do see that the covenant was made with Abraham as well as the Seed, the Christ. However, that is for another discussion.

The point is, the fact that the original language has a singular noun there, and that Paul based his argument upon that singularity, gives us indication of the nature of Inerrancy. The Spirit of God put that direct object as a singular, masculine, noun-a male seed from the man Abraham.

In this particular case, it is not possible to come to a conclusion of the meaning apart from this kind of work. We must be committed to, and understand the extent of, Inerrancy so that we can organize our studies correctly.

Next Step

Once we commit ourselves to Inerrancy, we must determine the meaning of the words of the text. This is not Hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the science of Bible interpretation, but unless we know the meanings of the words, the arrangements of the words, and the syntax of those words, we simply cannot take the next step of determining the meaning of the passages that contain those words.

In other words, unless I know the definitions of the words of an Inerrant passage of Scripture, I cannot interpret them. Those words are not native to me, or anyone alive today, because spoken Hebrew and spoken Greek of today are foreign to the written Hebrew and Greek of the Bible. Therefore, we must investigate, through the tools available to us of lexicography, and work through the definitions of the individual words of a particular passage.

Please note, we are not interested in the meaning of the passage at this point, only the words that are in that passage.

For example, looking at that same illustration as above, we have individual words in Koine Greek that, to Paul, mean so much because he spoke and wrote them. However, to me, it is literally Greek, pun intended.

The best way to come to the definitions of each, and every, word in the passage is to build a table in this way:

Word	Parse	Meaning	Notes
δὲ	Conjunction, adversative	But, yet
τῷ Ἀβραὰμ	Masculine, singular, Dative, Proper name	Abraham
ἐρρέθησαν	3rd person, plural Aorist middle/passive Indicative	They were spoken	How were they spoken?

Lexical Table

I am not worried about the meaning of the passage. I am only trying to learn the meaning of each word of the passage. The meaning of the text as determined by the author, will come together well enough downstream of this foundational work.

There are other aspects to this that I won’t go into now (i.e. Syntactical Exegesis, Problem Solving, Sentence Diagram). However, I hope this can illustrate the fact that Hermeneutics cannot come before Exegesis. Exegesis is the technical work of words, syntax, and grammar. That work does not concern itself with the overall meaning of the passage, only the trees of the forest. They are the building blocks of meaning for the use of Hermeneutics in the next step.

Hermeneutics

Once we have done the exegetical work, we can then sit back and examine everything and interpret what we have found. This work would fill a volume or more to explain. However, the basic and simple rule to follow for accurate hermeneutic is this:

INTERPRET THE BIBLE THE WAY IT WAS WRITTEN.

Every passage of Scripture is given in human, known, language. Each passage is given in historical context and with some kind of historical impetus for the author to write. Researching and organizing that information is vital to the hermeneutic. There are subjects of the verb, verbs, direct objects of the verb, etc… These are the things that must be known and comprehended before there is an attempt to understand the meaning of the passage.

To reverse this process is to put the interpretation before the words of the verse. This is “pretext” and a theological Hermeneutic, not an exegetical one. It is assuming a meaning before the real examination of the passage is made, which dominates the landscape of the church historically and in modernity. It is relying upon another’s work. Since a pastor is to rightly divide the word, reliance upon the work of others is dishonest for the man of God. It is one thing to refer to the work of others and see what they came up with. It is another thing to sidestep the work and go straight to the conclusions of others to see which ones I agree with.

The science of Bible interpretation is built upon the actual text, a work that is the technical work of exegesis. However, once that exegesis is done, and a good grasp of the language is had, putting it altogether to determine the meaning is next. The “interpretation” is very soon exposed to the exegete. The meaning is discovered, the significance is evident. The historical/grammatical hermeneutic, the only proper way to interpret Scripture since the Scripture was written in actual language and in an historical context, preserves the exegetical work that is done.

Exposition

A short statement about exposition is in order. Exposition, as noted above, is the proclamation, explanation, on a popular level, to the audience to whom we speak. Exposition, as with Hermeneutics, does not offend the Exegesis that was done. It is consistent with Exegesis. The rules of the right Hermeneutic that are followed, rules that uphold the Exegesis, will feed the Exposition.

The effect of this Exposition is that the Holy Spirit, Who inspired the Words in the first place, takes the truths discovered in the text and implants them in the hearts and minds of the saints. The power of the Truth drives deeply into the person via the Spirit of Truth.

My point in saying all of this is to emphasize that the entire process of the exposition of the Word of God begins with Exegesis, the technical work in the words. This is the beginning of “cutting it straight.”

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15, LSB)

Thomas, Robert L. ‘Bible Translations: The Link between Exegesis and Expository Preaching,’ The Master’s Seminary Journal 1/1 (Spring 1990): p. 54,
↩︎
Terry, Milton S. ‘Biblical Hermeneutics: A Treatise on the Interpretation of the Old and New Testaments.’ Edited by George R. Crooks and John F. Hurst. New Edition, Thoroughly Revised. Vol. II. Library of Biblical and Theological Literature. New York; Cincinnati: Eaton & Mains; Curts & Jennings, 1890), p. 17
. ↩︎
Thomas, p.54 ↩︎
I understand that we do not have those manuscripts in possession. Rather, we have copies of those manuscripts and, through the work of Textual Criticism, we can duplicate the biblical text with tremendous certainty. ↩︎
All quotations will be from The Legacy Standard Bible. Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022, unless otherwise noted. ↩︎
Aland, Barbara, Kurt Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The Greek New Testament. Fifth Revised Edition. Stuttgart, Germany: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2014. ↩︎

August 10, 2025

Tag: Exposition

The Effect of the Lord’s Supper

Scripture Reading

Introduction

The Need For Love In The Church

“Guilty”

“I do not praise you…What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you!”

”…you come together not for the better, but for the worse…”

“…for the better…”

“…for the worse…”

Other Warnings

Paul’s Correction

Conclusion

The Lord’s Supper and the New Covenant – pt.7

Scripture Reading

Introduction

The Incognito Ministry of the Messiah

The Parable:

The New Covenant clarifies who the church is.

The New Covenant is the only covenant made with Israel which forgives sins.

The Death of the Mediator

The Death of the Believer

Without the New Covenant, all the elect would remain in their sins.

“Even as the rest”

“When we were dead in our transgressions…”

Summary

Conclusion

The Span of Time

The Ends of the Ages

They Could Not Be Perfected Without Us

Jesus Had To Come; Jesus Had To Die

Jesus Had To Be Raised

Conclusion

What Comes First: Hermeneutics or Exegesis?

The Ridge or the Base

Definitions

First Step

Next Step

Hermeneutics

Exposition