Galatians 5,25 - 6,10. 15. Trinity

Galatians 5,25-6,10                              4722

15. Sn. n. Trinitatis 62   

Cleopas, Luke 24,18 

25. September 2022

1. ℣ Bow down Thine ear, O Yahweh, hear me: 

    ℟ O Thou, my God, save Thy servant that trusteth in Thee. (Psalm 86,1a.2b) 

  O God, our Deliverer, save us out of trouble, fear and distress, avert our misfortune, so that we daily remember that all is in Your hands. Amen. (Auf meinen lieben Gott elkg 540,1 2021 Lübeck 1590)

2. »If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in any transgression, then you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, then he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.«  

  3. Paul exhorts the Galatians: do not become conceited or boastful. A 1000 years earlier, Solomon opines: By pride comes nothing but strife. Pride goes before destruction and a conceited spirit before a fall (Proverbs 13,10a;16,18). Sinful pride will always lead to numerous other sins. Unchecked pride ultimately leads to a downfall.

4. These are thoughtful exhortations that every person needs to meditate upon. Leaders and nations should also contemplate them, Yahweh calls us to repentance. A proud person will resist, but a humble person will submit. »Yahweh declares: Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me« (Psalm 50,15). »For You, O Lord, are good and forgiving: abounding in mercy to all who call upon You« (Psalm 86,5). The Psalms encourage us at least 18 times to call upon God. 

5. Paul reminds us that we reap what we sow. Unrepentance reaps judgment and punishment; repentance reaps grace and forgiveness. God desires to pour out His mercy upon us; Paul exhorts us to show that mercy to others and proclaim God’s mercy to those caught in transgression and those burdened with guilt.  

6. Just a few verses later in his epistle, Paul tells the Galatians: »Boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ« (Galatians 6,14). There is only 1 gospel: the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ; there is no other gospel (Galatians 1,6-7). »A person is not justified by works of the law but is justified through faith in Jesus Christ« (Galatians 2,16). Paul would not budge from this teaching and gospel. You couldn’t beat him into submission, and they certainly tried to! You couldn’t sneak in the false gospel behind his back after he had gone to another city to preach, and they certainly tried to! Paul relentlessly defended the gospel to all his congregations; he would not allow the gospel to be distorted or lost altogether. »If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, then let him be anathema!« (Galatians 1,9). 

7. Don’t let the world or false teachers trick you or bewitch you (Galatians 3,1). For the time is coming, yes, it is already upon us, when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (2. Timothy 4,3-4).

8. We live by the Spirit, and we keep in step with the Spirit. The foundation of this life is Christ crucified and risen: he was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Romans 4,25). This is the gospel through which we live, move and have our being (Acts 17,28; Epimenides of Crete, 7./6. century bc). Good works are born forth from the faith that this gospel creates and sustains. Therefore, we do good to everyone, showing charity and mercy to all. 

9. The gospel is Christ alone (solus Christus) which is by grace alone (sola gratis) and is received by faith alone (sola fides). We boast and are proud in this Christ and this gospel. The foundation of our faith is Christ alone who was crucified for us and our sin, the Christ who 3 days later rose from the grave. In this Christ alone we boast. 

10. In the cross of Christ I glory,

Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time. 

All the light of sacred story

Gathers round its head sublime (In the Cross of Christ I Glory tlh 427,1 John Bowring 1792-1872).  

This is most certainly true.

10. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O God, in whom all fullness dwelleth, who givest without measure to them that ask, give us faith to ask and faith to receive all that Thy bounty giveth, that being filled with all Thy fullness, we may as Thy faithful stewards impart Thy gifts to all Thy children.  Amen. (The Week of Trinity 15, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover. 

Isaiah 12,1-6. 14. Trinity

Isaiah 12,1-6 4622

14. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 61 

Richardis, Wife of Charles the Fat, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, † 893 

18. September 2022

1. ℣ Behold, O God, our Shield, and look upon the face of Thine anointed:  

℟ For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand (Psalm 84,9-10a). 

O Lord God, Heavenly Father, who hast no pleasure in the death of poor sinners and wouldst not willingly let them perish, but dost desire that they should return from their ways and live: We heartily pray Thee graciously to avert the well-deserved punishment of our sins and tenderly to grant us Thy mercy for our future amendment.  Amen. (Martin Luther, AE 53,140 © 1965 Fortress Press). 

2. »You will say in that day: I will give thanks to You, O Yahweh, for though You were angry with me, Your anger turned away, that You might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Yahweh who is Yahweh is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the Yahweh, call upon His Name, make known His deeds among the peoples, proclaim that His Name is exalted. Sing praises to the Yahweh, for He has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.« 

3. When is that day of which Isaiah speaks, and why was Yahweh angry with Israel? Yahweh was angry with Israel and Judah because of their idolatry. Isaiah begins his prophetic book saying the people have rebelled against Yahweh (Isaiah 1,2). Isaiah didn’t say that on his own; Yahweh Himself told Isaiah that Judah has rebelled. This did not surprise Isaiah, for he saw this rebellion with his own eyes, and this rebellion was nothing new: from the time of Moses receiving the Law at Mt. Sinai until the last Jewish king, Zedekiah, Israel had been rebellious time and again over a span of 860 years.

4. So we know why Yahweh was angry; now what about that day? Israel and Judah were refused to repentant of their idolatry and that lead to Yahweh’s discipline. First, Israel, and then Judah, were removed from the land. 

5. The Day of Yahweh for Judah in 586 bc was not a day of rejoicing but a day of removal; it was as the Prophet Amos foretold: »Woe to you who desire the Day of Yahweh! Why would you have the Day of Yahweh? It is darkness, and not light … and gloom with no brightness in it« (Amos 5,18.20). The Day of Yahweh for unrepentant, idolatrous Israel was dispersion throughout the Assyrian Empire and for rebellious, idolatrous Judah that day was Babylonian exile. The Day of Yahweh for the rich man in the parable was eternal torment in hades (Luke 16,23). What will the Day of Yahweh be for each of us? 

6. To answer that question we must remember that there are two possibilities for the Day of Yahweh. Judah thought the Day of Yahweh would be one of great rejoicing, but they failed to consider that Yahweh would punish them for their idolatry. Their Day of Yahweh was a day of judgment. Only after the idolatry had been disciplined could the Day of Yahweh truly be a day of rejoicing. Isaiah tells the people that the day of rejoicing will indeed arrive. That day would be the time when Yahweh would restore the people back in the land. Isaiah said: »In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Judah will lean on Yahweh and a remnant will return to the Mighty God« (Isaiah 10,20-21). That day is when Yahweh releases Judah from Babylonian Captivity and they return home. That day was 70 years from the time Isaiah prophesied it. That day would be a day of rejoicing and singing, for Yahweh is Judah’s salvation; they will trust and will not be afraid. This day of Judah’s salvation was a type of the salvation Yahweh would do for the whole world. Earlier in Isaiah, the Prophet tells us: »For Yahweh Sabaoth has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low« (Isaiah 2,12)

7. What is our Day of Yahweh? To answer that we must ask: What was the Day of Yahweh for Jesus? Jesus told His apostles on Maundy Thursday: »For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in Me: And He was numbered with the transgressors [Isaiah 53,12]. For what is written about Me has its fulfillment« (Luke 22,37). Hours later Jesus told the Sanhedrin: »But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God« (Luke 22,69). The Day of Yahweh for Jesus was one of judgment, just like it had been for Judah in 586 bc. The Day of Yahweh for Jesus was His crucifixion and resurrection—He brought both the judgment Day of Yahweh and the redeeming Day of Yahweh together in one event: »Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the Prophets will be accomplished. For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they will kill Him and on the 3. day He will rise« (Luke 18,31-33). 

8. It is Jesus who turned away God’s anger against us. Jesus is our salvation. Jesus crucified and risen is made known among the peoples. Jesus’ name is exalted. Praises are sung to Jesus, for He is the fulfillment of Isaiah 12. It is Jesus who turned the Day of Yahweh from one of darkness to one of light! Jesus was judged in our place, paid for our sin and restored us before His Father.

9. The Day of Yahweh for the lepers was Jesus making them clean (Luke 17,14). The Day of Yahweh for Lazarus was to be carried by the angels to Abraham’s side (Luke 16,22). The Day of Yahweh for the criminal hanged next to Jesus was the promise: »Today you will be with Me in Paradise« (Luke 23,43). The Day of Yahweh for us was Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. The Day of Yahweh is now, today, in the forgiveness given and received in the Lord’s Supper. 

10. Isaiah heard this promise from Yahweh: »For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid My face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says Yahweh, your Redeemer« (Isaiah 54,7-8). This Yahweh is Christ Jesus our Savior and Redeemer. 

11. He sent no angel to our race, 

Of higher or of lower place,

But wore the robe of human frame,

And to this world Himself He came. (O Love, How Deep, Thomas à Kempis 1380-1471 lsb 544,2) 

This is most certainly true. 

9. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O God, who holds together earth and heaven; teach us to sing psalms and hymns with our hearts, so that we forever praise You our Redeemer.  Amen. (Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele elkg 597,4 2021 Norbert Kissel (1987) 1991 from Psalm 103)

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

 

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Luke 10,23-27. 13. Trinity

Luke 10,23-27                               4522

13. Sn. n. Trinitatis 60   

Paphnutius, Bishop of Thebes, Egypt † 335 

11. September 2022

1. ℣ Have respect, O Yahweh, unto Thy covenant: 

    ℟ Oh, let not the oppressed return ashamed! (Psalm 74,20a) 

  We have one God, and thus are members of one body, help us, O Yahweh, to gladly serve our neighbors, for we are all together living on this world You created for us, and we are all Your children. Amen. (So jemand spricht: »Ich liebe Gott« elkg 657,4 2021 Christian Fürchtegott Gellert 1757)

2. »And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying: „Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?“ He asked to him: „What is written in the Law? How do you read it?“ And he answered: „You shall love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.“ And Jesus said to him: „You have answered rightly; do this, and you will live.“«  

  3. The question at hand is eternal life. It was a lawyer who posed this question to Jesus. In Jesus’ day, a Jewish lawyer was a theologian; he was someone who studied the Scriptures, known collectively as the Law, and was well-versed on the laws of the covenant and how to apply them. All lawyers were Pharisees in Jesus’ day, and so his question is loaded with Pharisaical presuppositions, particularly: a person is declared righteous by God based on their obedience to the law, especially the 10 Commandments; if one is keeping the law, then there is no need to repent. The Pharisees, therefore, refused John the Baptizer’s baptism of repentance because they considered such repentance was not necessary for them because they were keeping the Law. 

4. The lawyer quotes Deuteronomy 6,5 and Leviticus 19,18. Jesus affirms this and says: „You have answered rightly; do this, and you will live.“ Both Jesus and the lawyer proclaim: The Law is the way of life; life is the result for the one who, in communion of God’s love, walks in His ways. Jesus understands the Law to be about compassion and mercy, but the lawyer understands the Law as doing particular things that merit your righteousness before God. In Jesus’ perspective, throughout the Law God’s gracious election and mercy upon His people is continually displayed, despite their sin. The Law was never a „how to“ book about earning merit before God (Just 449). 

5. Like Jesus, Paul, a Pharisee, cites that the Law teaches that righteousness is through faith, not through a legalistic interpretation of the Law that would attempt to merit righteousness through the Law (Just 449-50). Moses says: Abraham believe Yahweh and He counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15,6). The Law clearly says Abraham did not merit it by his works. Moses again says: it is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to possess the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 9,4). The land is theirs because Yahweh swore it to their fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deuteronomy 9,5). 

6. Jesus sees the Law as the means to eternal life, and this life comes purely by grace through faith which is active in love (Just 450). Paul says the same: In Christ Jesus only faith working through love counts for anything (Galatians 5,6).

7. The lawyer, however, attempts, and fails, to justify himself by twisting the Law into a legalistic system that would excuse him from showing love to all others. Jesus correctly interprets the Law, which teaches that God elected Israel solely out of His love and redeemed them in fulfillment of His gracious promises; Israel’s obedience to His commandments was a response in faith, motivated by love, created by the Gospel of God’s salvation (Just 450; Deuteronomy 4,37-40; 7,79; 10,12-22). The heart of the Law is God’s mercy and love. The human response in faith is likewise a response in love and mercy, as Jesus illustrates in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Just 451). And as Jesus exemplifies in His ministry, the Law includes everyone in God’s love (Just 452). Thus in the parable, the Good Samaritan shows compassion upon the man left for dead (Just 453).

8. Jesus is the Good Samaritan of the parable. Throughout the Gospels, He shows compassion and mercy to the outcasts of Jewish society. He also is compassionate to the upright in Jewish society. Jesus extends the mercy of the Law to both the lawless and the lawyer, to the sinners and the saved. Jesus calls the lawyer to show love and mercy as a covenant man to whom God’s mercy has come — in the Law and now in Jesus (Just 454). Jesus calls each of us to show love and mercy as anew covenant people to whom God’s mercy has come in the Gospel and in Jesus! 

9. Lord, Your mercy will not leave us; 

Ever will Your truth abide.

Then in You I will confide.

Since Your Word cannot deceive us,

Our salvation is to me

Safe and sure eternally (Oh, How Great Is Your Compassion tlh 559,4 Johann Olearius 1611-84).  

This is most certainly true.

10. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Almighty and Everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope and charity; and that we may obtain that which Thou dost promise, make us to love that which Thou dost command.  Amen. (The Week of Trinity 13, Vespers Collect 1. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover. 

   Just, Arthur A., Jr. Luke 9:51––24:53. Copyright © 1997 Concordia Publishing House. 

2. Corinthians 3,3-11. 12. Trinity

2.. Corinthians 3,3-11 4422

12. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 59 

Moses, Prophet, † 1406 bc 

4. September 2022

1. ℣ Make haste, O God, to deliver me:  

℟ Make haste to helm me, O yahweh. (Psalm 70,1). 

We rejoice in the Lord from the bottoms of our hearts; we will sing with joy to the glory of Your Name, O God, every hour, a new song.  Amen. (Ich freu mich in dem Herren elkg 566,1 2021 Bartlomäus Helder 1646/48). 

2. »Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.« 

3. In junior high school, our teacher liked to use The Living Bible (1971) for our parochial school morning devotions. It as a soft-cover book first printed in 1972 with a pea green color that was popular in the ’70s. It was titled The Way. It translates v. 6 as: The old way, trying to be saved by keeping the 10 Commandments, end in death; in the new way, the Holy Spirit gives them life. In Acts 9 we read that the Jewish Christians called themselves the Way (9,2). We could also translate that designation as the Road or the Path. Interestingly, The Living Bible translates the Way as believers, and that’s a good paraphrase of the Greek noun (τής όδοΰ) used by St. Luke. 

4. In his 2. Epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is tackling the rift that had occurred among the Jewish and Gentile Christians: must the Gentile Christians get circumcised? The issue is mentioned in 5 Pauline epistles: Romans, 1 and 2. Corinthians, Galatians and Philippians; some of these epistles were written after ad 49 when the the Jerusalem Council had decided that, no, the Gentile Christians don’t need to get circumcised or follow the kosher diet. Yet, for at least another decade this was an issue in the Church.  

5. Paul understands this issue as that of 2 covenants. The Mosaic covenant, with its circumcision and diet, is the old covenant; the Jesus covenant, with its cornerstone of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, is the new covenant. Paul says that this old, Mosaic covenant with its circumcision and diet is coming to an end; it is a covenant of the letter and law, and it kills. Jesus has fulfilled it. The Gentile Christians are not under it, and neither are the Jewish Christians. Paul himself disregarded the kosher laws and ate with the Gentile Christians. Paul, like James, has in mind the Prophets Amos and Isaiah: »In that day I will raise up the tent of David that has fallen and I will rebuild it. And that which has been razed I will raise up and will rebuild it just as the days of old [the eon]; so that those remaining should inquire of the men and all the Gentiles those who have called upon My Name, says Yahweh the one accomplishing these things. … The ones that shall announce let them approach so that they should know together who did these things from the beginning from whence it was announced to you, for I am Yahweh your God. There is no other besides, for I am just/righteous and a Deliverer. There is none besides Me« (Amos 9,11-12; Isaiah 45,21 lxx). 

6. Paul says this new testament is more glorious than the old testament, and that it surpasses it. The old testament was being brought to an end, and the new testament that succeeds it is permanent. This new testament is written on tablets of human hearts. Jesus is this new testament; He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14,6); He is the only Path that leads to G the Father and eternal life. He is a reed that was crushed, yet He did not break; He is a smoking wick/flax, yet He was not extinguished (Isaiah 42,3 lxx). He was crucified, yet not broken; He was dead, but now is alive forevermore. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ!

7. Even Saul breathing threats and murder against the disciples of Jesus could not break and extinguish the Jewish Christians from their faith in Jesus. The gospel of Christ crucified and risen withstands all tribulations and strengthens believers more steadfastly upon our Savior, Jesus Christ. We proclaim the gospel; we believe it; we confess it. Christ is the Propitiation for our sin and He has paid our redemption price. We are forgive; we are free. To God be the Glory in Christ our Lord!  

8. See, from His head, His hands, His feet

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown? (When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Isaac Watts 1674-1748 lsb 425,3) 

This is most certainly true. 

9. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Yahweh God, who dost not disdain the sighs of the forlorn/abandoned nor scorn the longing of troubled hearts: Behold our prayer which we bring before Thee in our need and graciously hear us, so that all which striveth against us of both the Devil and men may come to nought and be scattered by Thy good counsel, to the end that unhurt by all temptation we may thank Thee in Thy Church and praise Thee at all times.  Amen. (Martin Luther; AE 53,139-40 © 1965 Fortress Press)

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

 

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.