Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: 1. Peter 1,18-21. Oculi

1. Peter 1,18-21 1824

Oculi 27

Kunigunde, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, ✠ 1040

John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, ✠ 1554

3. März 2024

1. ℣ Mine eyes are always on Yahweh:

℟ For He will pull my feet out of the snare (Psalm 25,15; 24,15 vul lxx).

О Jesus, draw us out of the fire as a brand, so that Your suffering for us may not have been in vain. Let us become Your disciples, whom nothing can separate from You. Therefore grant us Your Spirit, that in this holy season of Lent [Passion] He may appropriate to us everything that we hear and heed of Your bitter suffering and death. Give us grace to always occupy ourselves with You in these days, to delight in You and thereby secure for ourselves an everlasting blessing. Amen. (Pieper 130; English 76).

2. »Know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 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.«

3. The Apostle Peter talks about the Christians being ransomed from the futile ways inherited from their ancestors. For Jewish Christians, Peter probably has in mind the Pharisaic teaching of works righteousness that was prevalent in 1^st century Judaism. Such working to merit righteousness before God is futile, for no sinful person has any hope of meriting righteousness this way. For Gentile Christians, he probably has in mind the works righteousness of their unbelieving ancestors who made sure they perform the proper sacrifice and offerings to the Greco-Roman gods and goddesses at the local shrine; some times it was just a pinch of incense. Do ut des; I give so that you give (Eastman 10) was their understanding; honor the pantheon and the pantheon will respond in kind. These deep-seated attempts to placate God and the gods runs deep within Jews and Gentiles; it traces all the way back to Adam and Eve who covered themselves with fig leaves in an attempt to placate their disobedience to God’s commandment. Medieval Catholicism’s semi-Pelagian understanding of salvation still hides within the Western Church: people can take the first step toward God of their own free will, thus opening the way for salvation through Divine grace. This later morphed into the 16^th century Church’s understanding that our works help pay down the temporal punishment our sins deserve and are expected to receive. Penance and purgatory became the means for people to work off their sinful debt and contribute to their salvation.

4. All of this is futile, the Apostle writes. Good works, penance, silver – none of these ransom, or assist in ransoming, your sins before God the Father. Only the precious blood of Christ ransoms you.

5. Ambrose of Milan (bishop from 374-97) wrote: „Scripture made use of a beautiful expression to proclaim the holy purpose toward you of God the Father, who offered His Son to death. The Son could not feel death’s bitterness, because He was in the Father; pro se nihil reddidit, pro te omnia obtulit [reverse Latin translation] for Himself He gave up nothing, on your behalf He offered everything. In the fullness of His Divinity, He lost nothing, while He redeemed you. Think upon the Father’s love. It is a matter of His goodness that He accepted the danger, so to speak, to His Son, who is going to die, and in a manner drained the sorrowful cup of bereavement, so that the advantage of redemption would not be lost to you. The Lord had such mighty zeal for your salvation that He came close to endangering what was His, while He was gaining you. On account of you He took on our losses, to introduce you to things Divine, to consecrate you to the things of heaven. Scripture said, too, in a marvelous fashion, “He has delivered Him for us all,” [Romans 8,32] to show that God so loves all men that He delivered His most beloved Son for each one. For men, therefore, He has given the gift that is above all gifts; is it possible that He has not given all things in that gift? God, who has given the Author of all things [Romans 8,32] has held back nothing“ (Ambrose 135-36).

6. The Apostle Peter wrote: »Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world.« Among other points, the apostle says Jesus existed before creation and was foreordained as the Redeemer of the eternal plan of salvation and foreknowledge of God the Father. Irenaeus and Tertullian both emphasized this point. At a particular time in history, Jesus was sent by His Father and revealed to the world as the manifestation and fulfillment of the Triune God’s redemptive plan that is accomplished on the cross.

7. Oculi nostri semper in Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, Our eyes should always be on our Lord Jesus Christ, and this is one aspect of our piety during Lent. Our devotions and prayers set our heart, mind and spirit to follow Jesus to the foot of the cross. We help our neighbor with our good works that flow forth from faith out of love for them.

8. „O the exceeding great kindness and love of [Christ!], He hated us not, neither rejected us, nor bore us malice, but was long-suffering and patient, and in pity for us took upon Himself our sins, and Himself parted with His own Son as a ransom for us, the Holy for the lawless, the Guileless for the evil, the Just for the unjust, the Incorruptible for the corruptible, the Immortal for the mortal. ³For what else but His righteousness would have covered our sins? ⁴In whom was it possible for us lawless and ungodly men to have been justified, save only in the Son of God? ⁵O the sweet exchange, O the inscrutable creation, O the unexpected benefits; that the iniquity of many [all] should be concealed in One Righteous Man, and the righteousness of One should justify many [all] that are iniquitous! (Epistle to Diognetus 9,2b-5; Lightfoot 1891).

9. Christ Jesus is our holiness and your righteousness. He gives us all this freely by His grace, and we receive it by faith that clings solely to Christ and His blessed merits. The Apostle Peter tells us that only Christ has redeemed us, and this with His very own precious blood. Christ offered up His own life as the redemption price to set us free. Since we are justified by faith alone and we are made righteous on account of Christ’s vicarious atonement on the cross, therefore we are fit for the reign of God and devote all our good works to help and benefit our neighbor.

10. In times of suffering,

let us stand strong

never complaining,

even when days are long;

through trials cross our way

yet dawns a brighter day.

(Jesu, geh voran elkg 656,2 2021 Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf 1719/1721, Christian Gregor 1778).

This is most certainly true.

11. Et pax Dei, quæ exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, we humbly beseech Thee to give unto this household, and unto each member of it in particular, a desire and taste for the things that are high and spiritual, the love of holiness and the longing for the life of heaven; grant that whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely and of good report, if there be anything which is unselfish and generous, if there be anything which Thou wilt accept and reward, we may think on these things and by the help of Thy Holy Spirit may order our lives and form our characters according to them. Amen. (Oculi, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

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.

https://archive.org/details/saintpeterchryso0017pete/page/90/mode/2up?view=theater

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Saturday, March 9, 2024

1. Peter 1,18-21. Oculi

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