Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: 1. Corinthians 14,1-12. 2. Trinity

1. Corinthians 14,1-12 3521

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13. Juni 2021

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father: we give thanks unto You, that through Your holy Word You have called us to Your great supper, and we beseech You: Quicken our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, so that we may not hear Your Word without fruit, but that we may prepare ourselves rightly for Your kingdom, and not suffer ourselves to be hindered by any worldly care. Amen. (Veit Dietrich)

2. »Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a language speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding, encouragement and consolation.«

3. In his 1. Epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul expounds upon 2 particular spiritual gifts: prophecy (προφητευητε) and languages (γλωσση). Prophecy is less about foretelling of future events and more about proclaiming a specific action or word of the Lord. The Holy Scriptures, all 66 Books, are prophetic books: they teach and proclaim Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became man, suffered, died and rose again. Languages or dialects refer to the languages spoken and written by people. In Paul’s day there were 3 prominent languages spoken throughout the Roman empire: Aramaic, Greek and Latin. The Old Testament had been translated from Hebrew into Greek 200 years earlier, and all the New Testament was written in Greek. If the gospel was preached in any of these 3 languages, almost anyone living in the Roman Empire could have a basic understanding of the message.

4. Love is Paul’s overriding concern in chapter 14: he encourages the Corinthian Christians to pursue love, and from love will flow a concern to edify the Church (Lockwood 476). Just as love builds up and edifies, so to proclamation of the gospel edifies, encourages and consoles. In another epistle, Paul rights: »All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness, so that the child of God may be complete and equipped for every good work« (2. Timothy 3,16-17). The Scriptures are inspired by God (SD IX,12); the Scriptures are clear, sufficient and effective (have the power) to produce faith in Jesus (Romans 1,16). The Scriptures are inerrant; they are not false and deceitful, but they are true and trustworthy (FC Epitome VII,13; LC IV,57; V,76). The Scriptures are the pure, infallible and unchangeable Word of God (Preface, Book of Concord, 10).

5. The Scriptures are ultimately about Christ. The Apostle John writes: »The Holy Scriptures, the Bible, are written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have a life in His Name« (John 20,31). We trust the Scriptures because we first trust Jesus. He is the Cornerstone of our faith. He is the Word of God made flesh who dwells among us (John 3,14). Our faith is in Jesus who lived, died and rose again to redeem us back to God the Father. This is the gospel that is preached, and this is the prophecy of the Church: behold, the crucified and risen Christ Jesus! This is what Paul told the Corinthian Christians: »And I, when I came to you, brothers and sisters, did not arrive proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep« (1. Corinthians 2,1-2; 15,20). As Jesus is the Word of God, so also is the Bible the Word of God that bears witness to Him.

6. All of Scripture stands or falls with Christ; if one has an errant view of Jesus, then eventually one will have an errant view of Scripture. If one only believes that Jesus is a man, then one is likewise going to view the Scriptures only as books written by men. If Jesus, as a mere man, is sinful like the rest of humanity, then the Scriptures will be judged to contain errors as well. An Early Church heretic who showcases this is Marcion of Sinope.

7. Marcion started out as a theologian and an evangelist, but he began mixing gnosticism and philosophy and eventually created an heretical sect. It began in ad 144 with his understanding of God. He said there are two gods: the god we find in the Old Testament and the god we find in the New Testament; these gods are incompatible. He called the god we see in the Old Testament the Demiurge who created the physical universe, who esteems a strict law and legal reciprocal justice, codified in Judaism and consequently punishes humans sin through suffering and death. He said that the god of the New Testament is radically different. This god, shown to us by Jesus, is a loving, compassionate god who showers humans with grace and mercy. He referred to the New Testament god as the heavenly father. He said Jesus is the son of this heavenly father, but that Jesus was not truly incarnate. Rather, Jesus only appeared (docetism) to have a human body, because the Demiurge created the physical realm. Jesus cannot have a real physical body because that would be at odds with the nature of the heavenly father. Since Jesus didn’t have a flesh and blood body, but only an appearance that imitated it, Marcion denied Jesus’ physical birth, His human nature, His death and resurrection. You can easily see how Marcion’s teachings are drastically opposed to what Jesus, the apostles and the Early Church believed, taught and confessed.

8. Marcion’s heretical views on Jesus carried over to his opinion of the Scriptures. In his day, there was no official canon called the Bible, but rather a collection of books, all of which we have in our modern Bible, with several additional books that were highly regarded. The full list varied from geographic location to geographic location, but the core of this collection was the 66 books that we have in our Bible today. Marcion set out to create a canon of Scripture in line with his heresy. Obviously, all 39 books of the Old Testament were rejected. He accepted only 1 Gospel, Luke, and he removed large portions of it, like chapters 1-3, much of chapter 4 and the end of 24: chapters where Luke emphasizes the birth and death of Jesus. Most of Paul’s epistles, because Marcion said of all the apostles only Paul got Jesus right, and so he included Galatians, 1. and 2. Corinthians, Romans (minus chapters 15-16), 1. and 2. Thessalonians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians; notice that Martion omitted Paul’s 1. and 2. Timothy and Titus. – His collection of Scriptures consisted of only 11 of the 27 books we have in the Bible today. On the other hand, the Church in ad 170 began to formulate a proper canon that recognized all the 66 books in our Bible unanimously and without edit.

9. The apostolic faith is that Jesus is truly God and truly man, He suffered, died and rose. With this foundational confession, the Church teaches that the Holy Scripture is the Word of God, and the Word of God is the Holy Scripture. This Bible tells us about our salvation through Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh (John 3,14). We put our faith and hope in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus; we believe in Him because we have heard His gospel preached to us and read His gospel in the Bible. The Apostle John proclaims: »The Holy Scriptures, the Bible, are written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have a life in His Name« (John 20,31). Thus Martin Luther exhorts us in his Small Catechism to: „not despise preaching and God’s Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it“ (SC 3. Commandment). Through the preaching of the Word and by reading the Bible we are shown Christ; He is the Theme and Cornerstone of the Holy Scriptures. Let us boast in Christ and gladly receive Him and the blessings He promises as written in His Word. Let us humbly confess that we are poor, miserable sinners who deserve only God’s wrath, and proudly affirm that Christ is our Savior who gives us forgiveness. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord You are our Strength, our Rock, our Fortress and our Deliverer; help us to gratefully receive Your gifts, so that our faith is strengthened and our good works flourish. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Friday, June 18, 2021

1. Corinthians 14,1-12. 2. Trinity

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