We continue with Peter’s speaking about Christian persecution and suffering.  Peter’s look into suffering has four subcategories:

1. 3:13-22: Christian conduct during persecution
2. 4:1-11: Living in the last days
3. 4:12-19: Sharing in the sufferings of Christ
4. 5:1-11: Suffering as a Christian congregation

Living in the Last Days (1 Peter 4:1-11)

Having the Mind of Christ within You

Last week we looked at the start of having the mind of Christ within you.  With the new self given to us in Christ we can “arm ourselves” with Christ’s way of thinking.  We are to have His points of view and attitudes  In other words, a Christian is to have the same patterns of thought or perspectives as Jesus!  When that happens, Peter says we “have ceased from sin.”

Now we are challenged, for we know that we cannot “cease from sin,” that is, be sinless.  Although suffering in the flesh for Christ can strengthen our resolve against sin, it does not guarantee that we will not stop sinning.  So, what point is Peter making?  In what way do we stop from sinning?  To find that out, we need to read verse 2.

Read 1 Peter 4:2

-          How are Christians to orient their lives?

1 Thessalonians 4:1-3: So then, brothers, you received from us [the Apostle Paul and Pastors Silvanus and Timothy] how you are to live and to please God, as you are doing.  We ask and encourage you in the Lord to do so even more.  For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.  For this is God’s will: that you be sanctified… [then is listed a series of examples as to what the sanctified life looks like]

-          What is God’s will for you?

Read 1 Peter 4:3-5

-          Why has the time past for living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, etc.? [Think about what Peter just talked about at the end of chapter 3]

Read 1 Peter 4:6

-          How are people described who do not have faith in Jesus?

-          If they are “dead,” they why was the Gospel preached to them?

Read 1 Peter 4:7-11

Excursus: “The End of All Things”

Peter uses the expression, “the end of all things,” to refer the “last days,” or to the “last hour,” which we can, at times, find perplexing.  We know the term, “last day,” does refer to the resurrection of the dead at the end of this world (John 6:39-54, 11:24, and 12:48).  The New Testament also uses the expression, “the day of the Lord,” to point to that decisive moment when Christ will return (Acts 2:20; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2, and 2 Peter 3: 10).

Yet, the “last days” or the “last hour” also serve as a shorthand for this present time in which we now live.  In other words, we are living in the last time and days.  The “last days” began with the coming of Christ into the world, when He decisively intervened in human history to bring the salvation He promised in the prophets (Hebrews 1:2).  The “last day” will be fulfilled when Jesus comes returns (Matthew 24:14).

That means that even right now (and the right now of tomorrow and then the next day), we are living in this “last hour.”  We hear the New Testament echo this refrain: “Children, it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).  We are those “on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11) and have received the gift of the Holy Spirit during these “last days” (Acts 2:17).

The rule and reign of the Messiah has already begun; He has ushered the world into its final phase of history.  We are living in it (but, right now, we experience it only by faith).  That is why, right now, we are to remain sober and alert to live out the reality of this kingdom.  We also are to be prepared for the “end,” when Christ returns, our bodies and souls are reunited (and we then experience the fullness of our salvation), and Jesus ushers in the new heaven and the new earth.

-          Why is someone to be self-controlled and sober-minded? [Remember Peter’s admonition on how husbands are to treat their wives]

-          How are you to use your “gifts”?

-          Not doing so is what?

-          In the end, living life in such a way glorifies whom?

Sharing in the Sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:12-19)

Read 1 Peter 4:12-14

-          Why should Christians not be surprised “at the fiery trial”?

-          Why can Christians rejoice in their suffering?

-          Sharing in Christ’s suffering means what will happen when Christ’s glory will be revealed?  Discuss.

Read 1 Peter 4:15-18

Peter then continues, telling us that, as Christians, we should not live in a way that causes our sins to bring us suffering.  

-          Contrast the difference between suffering because of righteousness (“as a Christian”) or suffering because of your sin?

-          What does Peter mean by “If the righteous are scarcely saved”?

Peter quotes Proverbs 11:31 from the Greek Septuagint. (The Masoretic Text reads, “If the righteous is repaid on the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!”)  This proverb goes from the lesser to the greater.  Peter says that if Christians are received into glory only with great effort and through many difficulties during our time right now, sinners can expect only doom if they persist in their chosen sinful lifestyles.

Peter teaches the same idea as Jesus did in Matthew’s Gospel.  In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus said:

“Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and there are few who find it!”

Yet, Peter’s focus is not on the fate of unbelievers.  His goal is to encourage faithful Christians.

Read 1 Peter 4:19

Historical Backdrop: 1:1-9

Read 1 Maccabees 1:1-9

These verses give the background, as a review to the reader, for the events that will follow.  This book was written for Jews, and so it should not surprise us when it uses Old-Testament terminology.  For instance, “Kittim” points back to the capital of Cyprus (Genesis 10:4 and 1 Chronicles 1:7).  It was also a term that also referred to Greeks in general.  The writer is simply expecting his readers to know this from the Old Testament. 

The Ptolemies, based in Egypt, loosely ruled over Judea from about 300 to 198 BC.  Then the Seleucids, based in Persia, annexed Judea under the rule of Antiochus III.  This set the scene for Antiochus IV.

The Jewish Hellenizers: 1:11-15

Read 1 Maccabees 1:11-15

-          What was the motivation for those who were trying to Hellenize (make more Greek-like) Judea?

-          Discuss the ways some of the Jews became more and more like any other citizens in the Seleucid Empire.

• Followed what “ordinances” and ignored what “holy covenant”?
• Built a “gymnasium” and “made foreskins for themselves” (literal translation).

NT Tie-In:  1 Corinthians 7 mentions living the faith where God has placed you.  So, if you were raised and a Jew and circumcised, Paul said, “Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision” (1 Corinthians 7:18).  That expression hails back to 1^st Maccabees when many Jews tried to become Greeks.  With that one statement, the Apostle Paul and Pastor Sosthenes let the readers know that the Church having Gentiles does not mean that those who were raised Jewish have to try to become Greeks.  If one knows 1^st Maccabees, it lets him know the strong force behind that statement. 

Antiochus IV Visits and Plunders Jerusalem: 1:16-28

Read 1 Maccabees 1:16-19

In 169 BC, we know that Antiochus invaded Egypt and captured much land.  He didn’t go all the way to Alexandria, but he did install his nephew (Ptolemy VI) as ruler, who was married to a Seleucid.  That, in effect, merged the two kingdoms into one.  

Read 1 Maccabees 1:20-28

The Jewish Temple not only had many sacred vessels of monetary value (because of the precious metals used) but also served as a bank where wealthy people could store their money and possessions (2 Maccabees 3:10-11).  According to Polybius,[1] Antiochus IV routinely plundered temples for wealth.  So, what Antiochus did in Jerusalem was not unique.

-          Based on the description in 1^st Maccabees, what part of the Temple did Antiochus not plunder?

-          How would the items taken have affected worship (the Table for the Bread of the Presence, the golden censers, the curtain)?

The writer for 1^st Maccabees then switches to poetry, a lament, to make the point of what happened in more than an intellectual way.  The poetry uses parallelism, to repeat the effect of what had happened a second time using different words and ideas.

He wrote about Antiochus IV:

He defiled himself with blood

   and spoke with unbridled arrogance.

Deep sorrow came upon Israel

   and nobles and elders groaned in bitter grief.

Virgins and young men lost their vigor

   and the beauty of the women was lost.

Every bridegroom sang a dirge

   and every bride grieved in her chamber.

Even the land trembled for its inhabitants

   and all the house of Jacob was clothed in shame.

-          In his poetry, is the writer of 1^st Maccabees using hyperbole?

-          But what does he want you as the reader/hearer to take in from the poetry?

Antiochus Occupies Israel: 1:29-40

Read 1 Maccabees 1:29-40

-          Discuss what took place within Jerusalem.

The writer breaks into another poetic lament to describe what had happened within Jerusalem:

The citadel became an ambush against the Temple

   and a constant source of evil against Israel.

On every side of the sanctuary, they shed innocent blood

   and they defiled the holy place.

Because of them, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were forced to flee

   and she became the abode of strangers.

She became a stranger to her offspring

   and her children abandoned her.

Her Temple was as desolate as a desert

   and her feasts were turned into times of grief:

Her Sabbaths into a mockery

   and her honor into contempt.

As her glory had once been, so was now her dishonor

   and her exaltation was turned into grief.

-          How does the poetry help convey the changes taking place within Israel?

NT Tie-In: In Matthew 24 (and Mark 13), Jesus told about the coming destruction of the Jerusalem Temple.  Jesus compared it to the “abomination of desolation spoken by the Prophet Daniel” (Matthew 25:15).  Yet, when we go back to Daniel and read about that “abomination,” we find that Daniel was speaking of a future event (Daniel 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11).  That “abomination” took place during the time of the Maccabees.

Daniel foresaw the Jerusalem Temple’s desecration by the Gentile ruler Antiochus Epiphanes IV in 167 BC.  Antiochus burned Jerusalem, plundered the Temple of its sacred articles, and erected an idol to the Greek god Zeus within the Temple (1 Maccabees 1:31, 37, 54).  Jesus used this earlier “abomination” as a point of comparison.  The readers of Matthew’s Gospel would know about that event because they knew the book of 1^st Maccabees, which was an Old Testament book in the Septuagint.  Jesus took that “abomination” and projected it forward to announce the Roman army’s destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

Then in Matthew 24:16, Jesus said, referring to Jerusalem’s destruction, “Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”  According to the Church Father Eusebius, in his Church History (340 AD), Christians living in Jerusalem fled to Pella, east of the Jordan River, before 70 AD.  For the astute hearer of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ words bring to mind Zechariah 14.  The Prophet Zechariah saw a day of judgment for Jerusalem, when the faithful were told to “flee” the city (Zechariah 14:5).  Similarly, in 1 Maccabees 1:37-39 and 2:27-28, the righteous had to evacuate Jerusalem and Modein (covered in the next lesson) in times of crisis.

Antiochus Imposes Paganism: 1:41-64

Read 1 Maccabees 1:41-50

-          What did Antiochus decree?  Why?

-          How did many of the Israelites respond?

Read 1 Maccabees 1:51-53

-          What happened to the faithful remnant?

Read 1 Maccabees 1:54-61

-          How bad did conditions get?

Read 1 Maccabees 1:62-64

-          Yet, how did the faithful act when persecution increased?

-          What would be the equivalent in New Covenant terms of:

• Stopping burnt offering and sacrifices
• Leaving sons uncircumcised
• Incense was offered in a pagan context
• Scrolls of the Law (the Scriptures) were burned

But whenever someone wants a perfect society, a self-made form of perfection, one result always happens–people have to die!  For people aren’t perfect.  They always get in the way of the perfect society that someone is trying to create.

Those three movements in the 20^th century were atheistic at their core.  The Nazis didn’t pretend that they were doing God’s business on earth.  They were trying to create the ubermensch: the perfect man.  Neither did the Communists cloak their mass killings behind the guise of some religion.

But throughout most of human history, that was not the case.  Usually, when the world lines up against something, it wraps itself behind pious-sounding words to do so.  When the world attacks something, let’s say even Christ’s Church, it usually does so cloaking evil behind what seems and sounds good.

Here’s what I mean.  Let’s just look at life in our culture and unpack what many say against Christ’s Church.  We’ve all heard it, and sometimes we’ve haven’t even had a good response to those charges.  We’ll hear:

Don’t you say, “God is love”?  Well, then, how can you be so unloving to say that homosexuality is wrong?  That’s not loving!  How can you tell me that having sex with another man’s wife is sinful?  We’re in love; and, after all, God is love.  How dare you say that anyone who doesn’t believe in your version of Jesus is going to hell!  That’s hate speech!  And no God of love would send anyone to hell anyway.

And so, what Jesus said to His Apostles on the night when He was betrayed is fulfilled: “The time is coming when someone who kills you will think that he is doing a service to God” (John 16:2).  The world has it upside down and backwards because the world is turned 180 degrees away from God.

The world doesn’t know Jesus and His Father.  That’s why the world is against the Church and Christ’s true followers.  The world is at war with God’s truth.  And so they (or should I say we in our own culture) set up our own ideas of God as our own idols.  And so the world does not worship the one, true God but a false idol of its own making.

And it’s no surprise that the god that the world sets up to worship is the mirror image of that world.  Such a false god simply reaffirms what the world wants to believe.  It’s a self-licking ice-cream cone.  God made man in His own image and, since then, man has been returning the favor, making new gods after his own image.

So, what is the god of our American culture like?  He’s never judgmental.  He’s always nice, never condemning, and always on our side.  At least the god of American popular culture says he’s not judgmental.  But we know that’s not true.  Our culture may hold up tolerance as the greatest good–but then is intolerant to God’s standards of right and wrong.

The primary commandment of this god, the god of our culture, is “Be Happy.”  The primary sins are “Not Being True To Yourself” (at least our culture’s understanding of that) and “Not Following Your Dreams.”  The only person this god has ever sent to hell was Hitler.  And he’ll probably get out early with time off for good behavior, for even Hitler built the Autobahn.  This god understands.  He doesn’t mind.  It’s OK.  We love this god because he wants what we want.  He has taught us to pray, “Not thy will, but my will be done.”

So, what are we to do about this, especially when we like much of what the god of our culture is selling us?  We do what God has always called us to do–repent!  Flee from such false idols.

For who can say that some of the world and the worship of its god has not infected his heart?  Who has never tried to cover up evil with the pretense of good?  Who has never justified gossip with, “Well, it’s the truth”?  Who has never justified an outburst of anger and hurtful words with, “I have a right to be angry”?

Flee from those sins you wrap in the guise of righteousness.  For, today, Jesus comes to remove such pretense and posturing.  He is not here to help you rationalize or excuse your sins.  He tells it like it is.  He calls you away from your self-justifications to bring you into His truth.  He calls your sin a “sin” and He invites you into the freedom of calling it sin, as well.

That’s what repenting means.  It means giving up on your own excuses and, instead, coming to Jesus and saying: “Lord, you caught me with my pants down.  I’m a sinner.  I’ve messed up.  I do not ask for what I deserve, but for your mercy.”

And when you do that, that’s when you humbly come to the Lord.  That’s when the Holy Spirit brings you to the Father in the love of the Son, and you then live as a Christian.  It’s then that you place your will, your intellect, and your wants beneath what God wants for you.  And when you live such a life for all to see, the world will often hate you fiercely and turn against you even more.  For the world cannot stand a true follower of Christ, just as it could not stand Christ Himself.

The world must rid itself of Christ because He exposes the lies of the world for all to see.  The world says, “Money and possessions will make you happy.”  Jesus says, “No, they won’t.  They will only trap you into pouring yourself into what will not endure and last.”

And so the world brands Jesus as a traitor.  He turned His back on its glory when Satan tempted Him.  And so now, Christians, too, are traitors to the world.  When you turn toward Jesus, you turn your back on the world.  And this enrages the world.  And so as the world attacked Christ, so also does the world attack Christians.

Sometimes this hatred is open, like our brothers and sisters in Syria and Egypt, who are being martyred for the faith.  Sometimes it’s more subtle, like our brothers and sisters in Canada and Australia whom governmental-rights commissions fine or imprison for speaking against sin, which they brand as “hate speech.”  And sometimes it is subtler still: It may be the quiet persecution from a friend or family member who distances himself from you or their mockery behind your back.

But it matters not, dear Christians, for what the world means for evil, God will use for good.  For remember that God used even the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, for the greatest good.  The hatred of the world killed Jesus–and God used that death to bring forgiveness and love to the world.

As Jesus died to the world, by the hands of the world and for the benefit of the world, so also it is with you.  Every day, the Lord will train you to die to yourself, to die to the world, all so you may rise with Him, and in rising with Him, draw all people to Him.

This is God’s plan for His Church: that we become united to Jesus Christ in His death–and life!  It is a plan of death and resurrection.  It’s not the plan of the latest religious book, fad, or church-growth technique, for man-made plans or techniques do not bring this to be.

In truth, God brings about His plan for His Church in ways that seem crazy, even insane to us.  God disciples us into His Church by killing us in the waters of baptism.  God then continues to disciple us by teaching us what it means to be baptized.

That’s what the Bible says.  Jesus told His Apostles to disciple the nations by baptizing and teaching (Matthew 28:19-20).  And Romans 6:3 says, “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

And then God restores you to live in that baptism, day in and day out, again and again, through Confession and Absolution.  For Confession and Absolution is repenting and being brought into Jesus’ life-giving forgiveness.

And then God connects you to Jesus in the Lord’s Supper.  It’s as Jesus says:

For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me [John 6:55-57].

Jesus lives in you, and you live in Him.  His death counts for you.  His life enlivens you.  That is God’s plan for you.  That is the Christian life.  That is where the action is–where Jesus connects you to Him and Himself to you in the Lord’s Supper.

So what can the world do to you?  If the world attacks, the Lord still gives you everlasting life.  If you lose all your earthly possessions, the Lord will still keep you and your little ones.  If all else falls apart, Jesus will hold you in His hand.  For He cannot deny himself.  And He lives in you.  And you live in Him.  That’s His promise to you in this Holy Supper.  And that is enough.  Amen.

P

1. 3:13-22: Christian conduct during persecution

2. 4:1-11: Living for the last days

3. 4:12-19: Sharing in the sufferings of Christ

4. 5:1-11: Suffering as a Christian congregation

Christian Conduct during Persecution (1 Peter 3:13-22)

Read 1 Peter 3:13-17

Peter begins this section with a rhetorical question.  The point of Peter’s question is this: if God has established governments to punish evildoers and approve those who do good (2:14), then who is going to “harm you” (literally, “do you evil”) if you are “zealous” for doing good?  The implied answer is “no one,” especially if the government is functioning properly to punish evil and reward good.

-          What lets us know that Peter understands that governments often fail in their God-given tasks?

Matthew 5:11-12: [Jesus said:] Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Be glad and rejoice, because you have a great reward in heaven.  In the same way, they persecuted the prophets who came before you.

-          Is someone blessed for simply suffering?  Why or why not (hint: Who is Righteousness).  Discuss.

-          What should each Christian be prepared to do? (vs. 15)

-          In what way? (vs. 15)

-          What two reasons does Peter give about remaining steadfast despite the slander against you?

Read 1 Peter 3:18-20

Peter now brings out why we can endure suffering: Jesus also suffered and we know all the good that God worked from that!   Peter then ties in Christ’s descent into hell and baptism’s power to save, which are all the result of Jesus’ suffering.

-          Why did Jesus suffer and die on the cross? (vs. 18)

-          Did Jesus completely die in body, soul, and spirit? (vs.18)

-          Why then was Jesus “made alive” in the spirit even before His resurrection? (vs. 18-19)

Excursus on 1^st Enoch

The Jews of Jesus’ day and the first Christians knew of 1^st Enoch and its traditions.  To see that this is true, we simply need to read the New Testament book of Jude, where it directly quotes 1^st Enoch (Jude 14-15).  Further, Peter in his 2^nd Epistle (which we will study after 1^st Peter), refers to the angels who had sinned being kept in chains for judgment day (2^nd Peter 2:4).  That’s the main theme in the book of 1^st Enoch, where God sent Enoch to pronounce judgment against the rebellious angels, declaring their doom.  Because they were rebellious angels, God will lock them away “in prison” until the time of their final judgment.

1^st Enoch and other ancient Jewish accounts help us “connect the dots” when Peter says that Jesus “proclaimed to the spirits in prison.”  These “spirits … formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared.”  These are the “sons of God,” whom Genesis 6:2 mentions in passing.  According to 1^st Enoch, and other texts, they were rebellious angels (called “the Watchers”) who corrupted the world before the flood (1 Enoch 6-21; Jubilees 5:1-11).  Being “spirits,” they could survive the waters of the flood.  So, the Lord threw them into the prisons of the underworld to await their final doom (1 Enoch 14:5 and 18:14).  Peter’s use of “spirits” in this way also matches the New Testament’s use of “spirits” for angels in other places (Matthew 12:45, Luke 10:20, and Hebrews 1:14).

We can also find this understanding about these “spirits” throughout the Jewish literature of the 1^st and early 2^nd centuries, including Jubilees, 4^th Ezra, 2^nd Baruch, and 2^nd Enoch.  And so Peter is not speaking of Christ going to human souls in hell but these disobedient angelic spirits.  Jesus was proclaiming His victory over these angelic “spirits.”

Read Matthew 16:15-18

In Matthew 16:17-18, Jesus was responding to Peter’s answer.  Jesus told Peter [Petros] that on this rock [petra], that is, the confession that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus would build His Church.  And then Jesus told Peter (the author of 1^st Peter) that the gates of hades would not overpower it.

-          Discuss: Peter wrote about Jesus descending into hell.  Jesus spoke Mathew 16:17-18 to Peter.  What is the connection?

-          In 1 Peter 3:20, Peter doesn’t speak about all the people who died in the flood.  Instead he talks about whom God saved.  Whom did God save through the flood?  Discuss.

Read 1 Peter 3:21-22

-          What does the “this” refer to in the in the first part of verse 21?

-          In the same way that the flood saved Noah and his family, what does baptism do?

-          How can baptism do this (vs. 21)

-          What does Jesus’ resurrection do with the appeal that baptism makes for you? (vs. 22)

-          Because baptism saves you, what does this mean when you have to suffer persecution?

Living in the Last Days (1 Peter 4:1-11)

Having the Mind of Christ within You

Read 1 Peter 4:1

Peter now gets into what living the baptized life looks like.  He ties who we are back to Christ and His suffering.  He tells Christians to arm themselves with Christ’s way of thinking.  However, for us to arm ourselves requires our cooperation.  This is not a passive endeavor on our part: We have to get up to go to church, we have to attend Bible class, we have to read the Scriptures, we have to meditate on God’s Word, etc.  This is the cooperation our Lutheran Confessions mention about cooperating with God in our sanctification.

As soon as the Holy Spirit has begun His work of regeneration and renewal in us through the Word and holy Sacraments, we can and should cooperate through His power, although still in great weakness.  This cooperation does not come from our fleshly natural powers, but from the new powers and gifts that the Holy Spirit has begun in us in conversion….  But this is to be understood in no other way than the following: the converted person does good to such an extent and as long as God by His Holy Spirit rules, guides, and lead him.  [SD, II, para 65-66]

So, with the new self given to us in Christ, we cooperate with God so we can “arm ourselves.”  With what are to arm ourselves?  “The same way of thinking,” that is, Christ’s thinking.

Christ’s “thinking” is a translation of the word ennoia.  Ennoia gets its meaning from the Greek word for mind or thought, nous.  Ennoia all ties in with the ideas of “point of view, attitude, and conception.”  In other words, a Christian is to have the same pattern of thought or perspective as Jesus!

Click here to go to Lesson 8.

Why the Apocrypha

When we consider studying a book from what we call the Apocrypha, why should we do so?  After all, when we look at our Bible translations, those books are missing from our English-language Bibles and have been so for about 200 years.  Are those books part of the Bible?  If so, then why aren’t they in the Bibles we now use?  If they aren’t, then why were they universally in all Bibles for about 1800 years?

To make sense of this, at least if the Apocrypha is Scripture, we need to go the beginning.  In this case, the beginning is with the Septuagint, the first translation of the Old Testament into the Greek language.

Vocabulary

• Septuagint (LXX): An ancient translation of the Old Testament into Greek, dated as early as the late 2^nd century BC.  The New Testament quoted it, particularly the Apostle Paul, as did the Apostolic, Early Church, and later Greek Church Fathers.  Today, the Septuagint still serves as the Old Testament for Eastern Orthodoxy, including translations of it.

The oldest Septuagint manuscripts include fragments of Leviticus and Deuteronomy (2^nd century BC), and 1^st century BC fragments of the Torah and the Minor Prophets.  Later, relatively complete manuscripts of the Septuagint include the Codex Vaticanus (4^th Century) and the Codex Alexandrinus (5th century).

• Masoretic Text: The Hebrew text of the Old Testament.  A group of Jewish scholars known as the Masoretes compiled this text between the 7^th and 10^th centuries and also added vowel points to the consonant-only Hebrew text (thus, also adding a layer of interpretation).  It serves as the source for Protestant Old Testament translations and one which Roman Catholic translators consult for the non-Deuterocanonical books.

The oldest manuscripts of the Masoretic Text that exist date from the 9^th century.  The Aleppo Codex, which is missing its Torah (Genesis – Deuteronomy), dates from the 10^th century.

The Septuagint

If we were to trace the New Testament writers’ use of the Old Testament, we would find that the Septuagint was the primary text the writers used.   We can see the influence of the Septuagint on the New Testament in several ways.

1. Vocabulary: The Septuagint’s influence on the vocabulary used in the New Testament “outweighs all other influences.”[1]
2. Quotations: When the New Testament (NT) writers quoted the Old Testament, what constituted a quotation for them was not the same as for us (they were freer with quotations, even combining different Old Testament quotations into composite quotations).  Yet, when we analyze the Old Testament (OT) quotations, this is what we find.  When we analyze OT quotations in the NT where the Septuagint and Masoretic Text differ, the NT favors the Septuagint over the MT almost 13 to one.  The NT has 77 instances where it favors the Septuagint over the Masoretic Text.[2]  The NT has six where it favors the Masoretic Text.[3]
3. The NT includes a broader range of writings as authoritative Scripture than only the Masoretic Text (the OT in today’s Protestant Bibles).  This broader range is what we call the Apocrypha.  Here are just a couple of examples.

• The Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day used the OT book, Wisdom of Solomon, to mock Jesus and assert that He wasn’t the Messiah.  This shows that the Pharisees (but not the Sadducees) considered the books in the Septuagint, including the Apocrypha, as Scripture.
  • In Matthew 27:43, they taunted Jesus for not merely being loved by God (Psalm 22:8-9) but specifically because “He said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Wisdom 2:18).  Matthew 27:41-43:
    • So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.  He is the king of Israel; let him come down now from the cross and save himself, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the son of God.’”
• Hebrews chapter 11 lists many martyrs who died for the faith in the Old Testament.  The movement is chronological, from older to newer.  By the time Hebrews chapter 11 gets to verse 35, it describes what took place in 2^nd Maccabees.
  • Hebrews 11:35: “Women received back their dead by resurrection.  Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.”
  • 2 Maccabees 7:1, 13-14:
    • It happened also that seven brothers and their mothers were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of unlawful swine’s flesh…. When he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourths in the same way. And when he was near death, he said, “One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him.  But for you there will be no resurrection to life.”

That the NT references the Septuagint so often simply shows that the NT writers (under Holy Spirit inspiration!) considered the Septuagint as Scripture.  That they also quoted and referenced what we call today the Apocrypha (which were books in the Septuagint) simply shows that the NT writers also considered those books as Scripture.

The Lutheran Church

As incredulous as it may sound, in our theological disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church, our Lutheran Confessions never list the books of the Bible!  Since the Lutheran Church considers the Bible as the final authority in judging doctrine, knowing what is Scripture and what is not is supremely important.[4]  Yet, we made no such list of the books of the Bible.

The question is why?  It’s very simple.  We had no disagreement with the Roman Catholic Church on what books made up the Bible.  We considered the same books as they did as biblical, so we never bothered compiling a list to differentiate ourselves from them.

How do we know this to be true?  Within the Lutheran Church, Martin Chemnitz (the “Second Martin”), in his Enchiridion, was the first to list the books of the Bible.  He listed the Apocrypha as Old Testament Scripture; however, he labeled them as the “apocryphal books of the Old Testament.”  What he meant by that is that they were books of the Bible that we would not use to make doctrine.

Now, we must also recognize that Luther did not consider the Apocrypha as books that belonged in the Bible.  Luther also had the same opinion for Esther and Song of Songs in the OT and James and Revelation in the NT.  Yet, Luther never removed those books from his translation of the Bible into German (Die Bibel).  And so we agree with Luther’s actions but not what he said about those books. (In other words, if we throw out the Apocrypha based on what Luther said, then we would have to do the same for Esther, Song of Songs, James, and Revelation).

Introduction to 1^st Maccabees

Through Jesus, God the Father sent His Holy Spirit, who would point people to Jesus, who, in turn, would bring them to the Father.  God has done this, whether we wanted Him to do so or not.  For His merciful and kindly disposition does not depend on us, but on Him.  And because of that, you needn’t hold on to your sins any longer–Jesus will take them!

And if Jesus takes your sins, they are as far from you as the East is from the West, and your sins cling to you no more!  That means the day will come when you will forget your anguish for the joy that Jesus has set before you.  Your sorrows will end, and nothing will ever bring sorrow to you again.  You will see God, the kingdom of heaven will be yours, and you will inherit the earth.

On that day, the Last Day, your prayer life with God will change, for you will reign with Him in eternity.  You’ll have no unmet needs or wants.  This isn’t because you won’t have needs or wants, for you will still be a creature, still dependent on God.  But it will be so because you have received mercy.  You will have everything you need or want.

But that is not how life is like in this fallen world.  Although Jesus has taken your sins, you still weep.  You still labor for your daily bread.  Others disappoint you; you even disappoint yourself.  And every day, suffering still greets you in some way or the other.

But on that day, the Last Day, when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, after your body and soul reunite, after you are reigning with Jesus in eternity, you will ask God for nothing.  But now, but now, you ask for everything.

Jesus says, “Ask and you will receive, so your joy may be complete.”  But we ask, and we ask again, and as far as we can tell, we don’t receive.  Our joy isn’t full.  It isn’t complete.  Our cup doesn’t overflow.  Our loved ones get sick and die.  Our bodies age, break down, and even betray us.  Our friends don’t support us as we would like.  Our love life with our spouses is not what we want it to be.

Here, we have joy in Christ–but it coexists with our sadness.  And as our faith stands alongside our doubt, so also do our good works stand next to our shameful sins.  Temptations still torture us.  Sin still deforms our lives.  Regret and doubt, and even guilt and shame, still haunt us.  We ask, and we ask, but, as far as we can tell, we rarely receive.  And when we do, it is only in part.

Like no other place, it’s in our prayer lives where the hidden will of God confronts us.  Oh, we understand the facts of the
faith.  God loves us and sent His Son, Jesus, to do what we could never do.  From the unending storehouse of His love, Jesus has taken our sins and given us His righteousness.  We are the forgiven saints of God.  So we also know what will happen: God will bring us to heaven, our sorrows will end, our bodies will reunite with our souls on the Last Day, and we will be complete.

But what we don’t know, at least as well as we would like, is what is happening now.  We live in the anxiety and sorrow of Gethsemane.  We pray that God will fulfill everything as He has promised.  But we also pray for our daily needs and wants, like daily bread, a loving spouse, or maybe even a new TV or car.

Sometimes, most of our prayer lives are made up of asking for stuff.  But all our prayers on this side of heaven are the prayer of Gethsemane.  For Jesus’ words, “not my will, but yours, be done,” shapes and moves our every prayer (Luke 22:42).

Yet, we do not know, beyond the generalities of Scripture, what is God’s will for us.  We know that God has intervened for us.  We know that God worked His will for us on the cross of death.  We know that God works His will every time we receive Jesus in Word and Sacrament.  We know that our sorrows here will not last.  We know that God will overcome death itself, that last enemy.

But what we don’t know, with any certainty, is God’s will for us right now.  Will we live or die?  Will we laugh or cry?  In this fallen world, we endure in the night of betrayal, ever on the brink of disaster.

We don’t know if our beloved will tell us that he has been unfaithful and no longer loves us anymore.  We don’t know what the biopsy will reveal.  We don’t know who will run a red light and cause calamity in our lives.  We don’t know the conspiracies of Hell that God will allow to come partly to fruition.  We don’t know how the trials in our lives might sift us like wheat or purify us by fire.  We simply don’t know the will of God for these specific parts of our lives.

So, what do we do?  We ask for everything.  Like children asking their fathers, by faith we know that our heavenly Father will only give us what is good and that His will is best.  And so we ask for the big items: the end of poverty, war, and hunger, for we know that God will answer those prayers in His own way and time.  And for us, that is enough, for God’s will is always best, even when our sinful selves rebel against it.

Jesus says it is “a wicked and adulterous generation [that] asks for a sign” (Matthew 16:4).  So we don’t test God and ask for signs.  But God is gracious, and He may choose, on His own, to give us a foretaste of heaven now, which He does every week in His Supper.

So, how else do we pray?  We ask for the small items of life.  We ask for a good parking spot and eggs that will not be scorched in the skillet, for the day will come, as Jesus says, when we will ask for nothing.  But that day is not today.  That day is the Last Day, when Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead.

And so, today, we ask for everything.  Today, we ask for everything in Jesus’ name.  But what does that even mean?  What does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name?  It means that we ask Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father, to align and change our every prayer into what God’s will is.  Praying in Jesus’ name is aligning our wills, the will of Jesus and what you want, to be the same.

Yet, it is not you changing God.  Instead, when you say “in Jesus’ name,” you are asking Jesus to change your prayer, so it aligns with His will.  After all, you aren’t praying in your name, but in Jesus’ name.  And what Jesus wants for you, so also does the Father, for Jesus and God the Father are one.  And so when you pray in Jesus’ name, you are asking that His will change and shape your prayer into what it should be.  Ask in Jesus’ name and you will receive.

Jesus has overcome the world and earned your salvation.  He knows what is best.   And so we focus our attention–not on His hidden will, on which cereal we should eat or whether we should use Ivory soap instead of Dial–but on what He has promised, on who He is.

We cannot know God’s hidden will, so we exercise the Christian freedom He has given us.  We choose the cereal before us, what we can afford, what seems best to us, whether it’s best for our health or our taste buds.  For, by faith, we know that God will even bless such a mundane decision of life.

We also know that God the Father, who has given us His only Son, will also give us everything according to His will.  We know that everything works together for the good of those who love God, even bathroom breaks and scorched eggs as much as war and earthquake.

And so we wait on the Lord.  We wait, knowing that He hears and answers all our prayers.  Right now, God answers our prayers with what is best for us and our neighbors, whether it seems as if we get all we asked for or not.  We pray in such a way until all is given according to His promise in the Day that is yet to come.

The Lord has redeemed you.  He does not turn away your prayer.  He hears.  He answers.  Call on Him, O sainted sinners, for He is merciful.  He will pardon.  And He comes to you now, in answer to your prayers, in His Body and His Blood, giving to you according to His will.  Amen.

We continue in a section of Peter’s letter where he answers this question, “How then should Christians live honorably in a fallen world, as people whose real home is in eternity with God?”  Peter breaks down this line of thinking into five smaller sections.  We first look at what effect husbands mistreating their wives may have on their faith-life.  We then look at how Christians are to live their live in relation to everyone else.

• Others, avoiding evil and doing good
• Civil authorities (2:13-17)
• Household servants to masters (2:18-25)
• Wives to husbands, and husband to wives (3:1-7)
• Everyone else (3:8-12)

The linkage between a husband’s treatment of his wife and his prayers (3:7b) 

Read 1 Peter 3:7

Excursus: A Look at Egkopto, “Hinder”

In several places, Scripture lets us know that having a skewed relationship with others skews one’s relationship with God.

• Matthew 5:23: So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go.  First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
• Matthew 6:12: [Jesus taught His disciples to pray:] forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
• Matthew 6:14-15: For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
• 1 Corinthians 11:33-34: [Because of abuse during the Lord’s Supper, Paul tells the Corinthians,] So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another–if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home–so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.
• James 4:3: You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

The Christian life is not one of compartmentalization.  One area affects all others.  What you believe affects how you live.  For instance, Jesus’ forgiveness enables us and gives us the willingness to forgive others.  To turn away from the responsibility to forgive is, in the end, to turn away from being forgiven.

Sin in one part of your life affects others, even your relationship with God.  All such sin is harmful in one way or another.  The most harmful is a lifestyle of deliberate, willful sinning, which brings you outside the kingdom of God.

When Peter says that husbands mistreating their wives “hinder” their prayer, Peter uses the word “egkopto.”  Egkopto carries the meaning of hinder, thwart, prevent, weary (as a verb), or detain.  Although Peter is not specific, such lived-out behaviors impede or get in the way of someone’s prayers to God.

Peter does not say specifically how someone’s prayer is hindered.  But Peter does say that the prayer is “your” (plural) prayer, referring to husbands (plural).  That means the hindering is in the praying (husband), not in the one hearing them (God).

-          That Peter has to make such a warning means what?

Read 1 Peter 3:8-12

In this section, Peter uses a poetic structure (a chiasm) to emphasize the point he makes.  All the points are important, but he singles out brotherly love as the most important.  Brotherly love is how one lives out his life if his mind and heart are in the right place.  For Peter a unity of mind is synonymous with a humble mind, and sympathy and a tender heart go hand in hand.  To strengthen his point, Peter quotes Psalm 34:12-16.

-          If one has brotherly love, how does that show itself in the life of a Christian? (vs. 9)

-          What is a Christian called to do? (vs. 9)

-          What may (not will) result from you blessing others?

-          If the other person may eventually bless you in return, what does that mean?  What then is speaking such blessings to others?

Excursus: What Does It Mean to Bless Others?

In the Old Testament, Priests blessed others.

Numbers 6:22-26: [The priests would say:] The LORD bless you and keep you.  The LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.  The LORD look on you with favor and give you peace.

Sirach 50:20-21: Then Simon [the High Priest] came down and lifted up his hands over the whole congregation of Israel to pronounce the blessing of the Lord with his lips, the name of the Lord being his glory.  They then bowed down in worship a second time to receive the blessing from the Most High.

As Christians, we recognize God as the source of all blessings.  As those brought into the New-Covenant priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), God then calls us to bless others.  How do we do this?  We speak the word of blessing God gives us to speak.

On Sundays, we live this out during the “passing of the peace” in the Divine Service.  When you say, “The peace of the Lord be with you,” you are speaking the Lord’s peace to another.  How can you do this?  It’s because you are a priest, and God has given you to say such words to another.

The posture to receive a blessing also comes to us from the Old Covenant.  We see the Israelites bowing their heads to receive the blessing.  We show such humility because the blessing is from God through the mouth of the one speaking.  The bowing to receive the blessing recognizes God as the source of the blessing behind the one speaking it.

Our life of blessing others grows from the Divine Service.  We come empty handed to receive what God gives us from His storehouse of plenty: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.  Into our empty hands, He places grace on top of grace, blessing on top of blessing.  By meeting with us through His means of grace, God then sends us out–with words of blessing!–as His priests to bring Him and His love and blessings to the people that we meet as we go about our everyday lives.  In our daily lives, we who have received God and His blessings bring both of them to those who may be far from Him and His grace.

As His holy priests, we take God and His blessings with us to every person we meet.  We are bearers of Christ to others.  Our bodies are temples of the living God.  So wherever we go, we, mysteriously, take the triune God with us: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Whether we know it or not, we are “the light of the world,” shining lights, people through whom God shines out into the world and gives His good gifts (Matthew 5:14-16).

-          Discuss how you can bless others by what you say to them in your everyday life.

We’ll stop here instead of starting into a new section that Peter develops on persecution and suffering.

Read John 20:30-31 

-       What is the purpose of John’s Gospel?

Jesus’ third post-Resurrection appearance to His disciples

Read John 21:1-3

Mark 16:7: [The young man dressed in white by Jesus’ tomb told the women,] “But go and tell his disciples, especially Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee.  You will see him there, just as he told you.”

We now find the disciples back at the Sea of Galilee fishing.  Perhaps, they were waiting for further instructions from Jesus.

Read John 21:4-8

-       What in this passage seems familiar to other interactions Jesus had with His disciples?  What is different from His pre-Resurrection appearances?

-       Discuss the disciples’ reactions?

Read John 21:9-14

-       Many have speculated on why there were 153 fish in the net.  Discuss.

Read John 21:15-17

To miss the connection between Peter’s earlier denial of Jesus (13:38; 18:15-18, 25-27) is to miss what Jesus is doing here.  Peter had denied Jesus three times during the night after Jesus was arrested.  There is also the similarity that then Peter also huddled around a charcoal fire. 

In his first two questions, Jesus asked Peter if he loved him with “willing love” (agape).  But in the third question, Jesus asked if Peter loved him as a friend (phileo), which is the word Peter used in all three of his responses.  Why the verb changes?  Most likely (since Jesus doesn’t tell us) these terms show that Jesus wanted full and complete love from Peter.  

-       So what was Peter to do based on His love of Jesus?

Jesus used two verbs to describe Peter’s apostolic task: feed, shepherd (pastor as a verb), and feed.  

-       How does an Apostle/Pastor do this/these task(s)?

Read John 21:18-19

Here, Jesus let’s Peter know what being an Apostle of Christ will cost him.  In hindsight, John says that Jesus was pointing to Peter’s martyrdom.

Read John 21:19-24

-       What does Jesus want to do with Peter?

-       From Jesus’ words, what do the Disciples wrongly conclude about John?

Read John 21:25

-       What does this say about the content of John’s Gospel?

-       Discussion or thoughts on the entire Gospel of John.

The Church council at Carthage condemned Pelagianism as heresy.  But people being what they are, wanting to choose the doctrines they like, some protested against the Church’s upholding of the truth.  Some who liked Pelagianism began causing problems within the Roman Empire, protesting and creating civil unrest.

So, the Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Flavius Augustus Honorius, became involved.  Now, we must remember the Roman Empire was then split into a western empire, based in Rome, and an eastern empire, based in Constantinople.  And by this time, the Roman Empire had largely become Christian.  And so the Roman Emperor even involved himself and issued a decree, hoping it would not only help get rid of a heresy within the Church, but end the civil unrest.  Emperor Flavius declared, “Praise the Name of the Lord, who saves us by grace alone, apart from our efforts, works, or decisions, because of Christ.”

But by human logic, Pelagianism sounds reasonable–that a person’s own choice gains him entrance into heaven.  Often our own experience even supports this.  We think back in our lives and say, “Yes, I remember a time, many times, when I considered who Jesus is and what that means for me.  And yes, I chose to follow Him.”  And although our human experience often leads us to think that we are neutral before God, that experience contradicts what God Himself tells us about ourselves.  Romans 3:10-12 says, “Not one is righteous, not even one.  No one understands.  No one seeks God.  All have turned away.”

Even more, as we learn more about what God expects of us, how His standard for our lives is perfection, fear begins to fill our hearts.  For when moments of brazen honesty seize our hearts, we can’t explain why we sometimes do what we know is wrong, even when we don’t want to do such deeds.  Those few moments of brutal honesty destroy our excuses and rationalizations, letting us know that we aren’t neutral before God.  We then realize that we are messed up in many ways.

Well, what happened to Pelagianism?  It disappeared.  It would not rear its hideous head again until Protestant churches formed and began to promote a “decision theology.”  Today, the teaching that you become a Christian by asking Jesus into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior is just Pelagianism wearing a new mask.

Well, if we cannot choose God, what does it mean when–as far as we can tell–that we do choose Him?  It means that when we do “decide” to choose Him, God has already placed faith in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  That means such choices we make toward God are a result and fruit of faith, not that which brings about our salvation.

But how can we miss such a work of God in our hearts?  Ah, now we get to the Gospel reading for today.  It’s because the work of the Holy Spirit is a quiet work.  In our Gospel reading, we heard these words: The Holy Spirit “will not speak on his own, but he will speak only what he hears.”

The message from the Holy Spirit is not about Himself; He speaks what God the Father gives Him to speak.  And so the Holy Spirit does not create and work fervor in our hearts about Himself.  Instead, the message from the Holy Spirit is about grace–God the Father’s grace in sending God the Son to us and for us.

In other words, the Father tells the Holy Spirit to speak about and bring us Jesus.  It’s as Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians: “God chose you from the beginning to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.  He called you to this through our gospel, so you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess 2:13-14).

When Flavius decreed that God “saves us by grace alone, apart from our efforts, works, or decisions, because of Christ,” that decree pointed Christians away from themselves and their choices to the grace of God.  And what is the “grace of God”?  It’s is an attitude that originates from God Himself; it’s a judgment in the mind of God.

Now, you’re probably thinking that “judgment” is automatically something bad.  If God passes judgment on me, then I’m already without hope.  But that’s not the case.  For the “grace of God” is a judgment from God that you do not receive what you deserve because of your sins.  And that grace of God then foists all of that on the shoulders of Christ Jesus.

God’s judgment of grace is something good for you.  For God’s judgment of grace is that He chooses to see you and treat you as He would Jesus, His own Son (and it treats His Son as you deserve).  Do you see who’s doing the choosing?  And so, God’s grace is His attitude toward you that grows from an eternal love, granting and giving complete and eternal forgiveness.  Since this grace originates in the mind of God, that means it doesn’t come about from your efforts, works, or decisions.  God holds such a judgment because of Jesus.

Yet, sadly, because we American Christians know almost nothing of our own New-Testament Church history, we often think that “grace alone” means “grace plus.”  It’s grace plus your efforts.  It’s grace plus your works.  It’s grace plus your decision.

That’s how the human world works, right?  We barter for something.  Each side has to give, so it can take.  Otherwise, it’s no deal.  We expect our elected leaders to pass legislation, which means that both Democrats and Republicans have to give up something, all so they can get something they each want passed into law.  And so we naturally bring that thinking and mindset to our relationship with God.  We think, “I’ve got to give something to God for Him to give me salvation.”  And so, today, many think we have to give Him our heart before He will save us.

But there’s nothing that we can exchange for the grace of God!  Apart from Christ’s blood already covering our sins, no effort or decision to choose God will even do.  For sin even taints our decisions, which make them unacceptable to God.  That means not even a choice you make to choose God will enable you to receive and enjoy God’s grace.  For if your salvation needed anything from you, even your self-generated belief, you would die in your sins.  For you can’t self-generate faith.  After all, as Ephesians 2:8 tells us, faith is a gift that God gives you.

Every form of “grace plus” denies and rejects the grace that God gives, which is only by grace alone!  It’s as we earlier sang: “Not what I feel or do, can give me peace with God; not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load….  Thy grace alone, O God, to me can pardon speak; Thy pow’r alone, O Son of God, can this sore bondage break” (LSB 567, 2, 5).  That’s grace alone!  And this grace alone is God’s idea, God’s promise, God’s doing, and God’s gift, which we receive in exchange for nothing!  The grace of God is not grace plus our intent, decision, effort, or work.

Well, we now know what grace isn’t.  Our decision or works have nothing to do with His grace.  All right, that’s what grace isn’t–but what IS grace?  Grace is a promise from God to you and for you!  God’s grace is the promise of God the Father’s love–for you.  This grace is a promise of the Son’s full redemption from sin and death–for you.  And this grace is a promise of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life–for you.

The Holy Spirit is not some impersonal force, like gravity.  Through the Holy Spirit, Your heavenly Father comforts you, bringing to you His blessing.  Your elder brother, Christ the Lord, sends the Holy Spirit, which is how He is makes His face to shine on you.  And this Comforter and Advocate, the Holy Spirit of Truth, works within you, so your God, the only true God, the Blessed Holy Trinity, gives you peace.  And that all this is true for you–and to you–is the work of the Holy Spirit!

The work of the Spirit is to bring you to Christ.  Every day, and every moment after the Spirit has begun living within you, He even brings you to “decide” for Christ, keeping you with Christ.  The Spirit comforts you with Christ.  And where the message from God’s Word is doing these things, there the Holy Spirit is at work.  And this work of the Spirit is grace alone!

Where the Gospel is proclaimed, where the Sacraments are given out, there the Holy Spirit is at work, which means that Jesus Christ is also there!  Through this work of the Holy Spirit, Christ comes to you in what He has chosen to use to bring you Himself: Word, water, bread and wine.  Sunday after Sunday, year after year, century after century, Christians hold on to Christ by the Spirit He has sent.

The Spirit has called you by the Gospel.  He has turned on the light of faith within you with His gifts of Word and Sacrament.  He has kept you in the faith until this moment, even as He promises to finish this good work in you by keeping you in the faith until Christ returns on the Last Day.

The Holy Spirit has gathered you with others by putting you in Christ’s Church in this place.  And you can spot where the Spirit is at work whenever you spot where Jesus has promised to be: in the preached word, in baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, and absolution.  That is how you receive and get God’s grace on this side of heaven.  Amen.

Often, Christians are confused about a Pastor speaking God’s forgiveness to others.  Some (i.e., Protestants) say that only God can forgive sins.  Such a statement is true, but neglects

Scripture teaches that when a Christian–pastor or layperson–speaks God’s Law and Gospel to another, it has the power of God behind it.  For the power of God’s Word isn’t based on the office or position of the one who speaks it, but the power of the Word itself.

If this is true, then why do our confessions use the word “keys” referring to a pastor absolving (AC 28, 5), and the words “mutual conversation and consolation” or “advice, comfort, and strength” (SA 3, 4; LC 6, 13-14) referring to one Christian speaking to another?  Why this distinction?

We know that in John 20:22-23, Jesus was speaking to His Apostles, whom John referred to as “the Twelve” (John 20:24).  So we don’t use John 20:23 as the Scripture passage referring to all Christians speaking God’s forgiveness to another.  The Bible itself doesn’t do this when you see to whom Jesus is speaking–and neither do our Confessions.

But looking at Scripture passages specifically written for all Christians (instead of Jesus speaking to His Disciples/Apostles), Scripture does show how all Christians may speak the Word of God to others.  Passages such as Colossians 3:13,16, 1 Peter 2:9, Ephesians 4:32, and Luke 6:37 show that all Christians may speak God’s word of forgiveness (even censure!) to another.  But what you won’t find is any hint that all Christians may retain the sins of others (which means retaining the sins of another is a cross that the pastor must bear).

So, how do all Christians forgive (and if needed, admonish)?   All Christians are to make a good confession of the truth, in teaching and correcting.  All Christians should praise God who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light.  All Christians should privately go another Christian who errs, and tell him of his error.

Every individual Christian has the spoken means of grace and its power, which is one way God works to create and strengthen faith.  And this is based on the Word; it matters not who is doing the speaking.  If this were not true, then only the Word spoken by the pastor would create faith.  Yet, God the Holy Spirit uses the confession of all Christians who speak His Word to others!

The only difference is how one speaks the Word.  A pastor forgives and retains sin according to His vocation as pastor; a layperson speaks forgiveness and censures according to his vocation.

Lutheran Service Book does a good job of showing the difference.  Page 151 of LSB has two columns below the confession of sin.  The left column is spoken only by the pastor.  The right column may be spoken by a pastor–or a layperson leading a service (such as an elder) if a pastor is not available.