Archive for April, 2023

St Paul on the Resurrection

April 9, 2023

The Fact of Christ’s Resurrection
​1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to  James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

This to me is one of the most wonderful chapters in the whole Bible.  You might ask why, and I can explain why;

 Jesus rose from the dead with a resurrected body and the day will come that we will also have resurrected bodies.  You might ask the question; Why is the body important after we are dead?  

If you are without a body but have a soul and spirit it sounds good enough.  My friends, it is not enough!  How do I know your identity if I cannot see you face?

We all have gestures and we all speak words, and this is the wonderful thing about a body.  This chapter is wonderful because Paul goes into great detail to explain to us why the resurrection is so important.  I am not an expert in the resurrection, but I hope by the end of this commentary we will all have a certain amount of expertise that we can share. I will just go through a basic commentary for the first eleven verses and then I will look at some of the technical stuff afterwards to make it more interesting.  

 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1-11 The first 11 verses set the scene and is a summary for the  preaching of the Gospel that they heard; It is also a summary of what the essence of the Gospel is in a nut shell.  He starts from the foundational beliefs before moving into the deeper things that make being a Christian a worthwhile thing.

Verse 1

1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, NASB    

This is a reminder to them of the gospel they believed in.  They stand in these basic teachings;

  Verse 2

2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. NASB  

The Apostles were those who were sent by Jesus and we need to take their words very seriously.  St Paul was also an Apostle and he was validated by the other Apostles.  If the Corinthians reject St Paul, then they reject the Lord Jesus Christ.   

 As I was reading this section, I found it interesting that John Calvin mentioned the Sadducees.  Obviously, they had a problem with the resurrection.  If we mirror read the text, there must have been some who were saying things contrary to the Apostles.  Even if we cannot prove that it was the Sadducees there were those who just would not agree with the resurrection; At that juncture John Calvin is surely right. From https://biblehub.com/commentaries/calvin/1_corinthians/15.htm    

Verses 3-8

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.  NASB      

Here Paul sums up the series of events (verses 3-8) from the death and resurrection of Christ all the way to when he got his Apostleship. So, let us sequence it out;  

1. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures

2. Christ was buried

3. Christ was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures

4. Christ appeared to Peter

5. Christ appeared to the other disciples

6. Christ appeared to more than 500

7. Christ Appeared to James

8. Christ appeared to all the Apostles

9. Christ appeared to St Paul  

 This list is very important because it shows solid eyewitness account to the resurrection.  Look at how many times he uses the word appeared in the text.  A historian who reads this bit which is one of the oldest letters in the whole New Testament sees a heavy weight of evidence for the resurrection.  Before Paul even goes into the subject of the resurrection, he shows them the evidence.  This evidence cannot be refuted by the Corinthians and it ought not be refuted by us.  We need to take this seriously and to fall on our knees and worship God for everything he has done for us in Christ by the Holy Spirit.  This is really exciting stuff.    

Verse 9-11

9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. NASB    

Paul calls himself the least of the Apostles.  We see from the Book of Acts and Galatians that Paul was a persecutor of the church.  At the time he was happy at the martyrdom of Stephen, but something happened.  Jesus Met Paul and he was chosen to be an Apostle out of time.  When Jesus was going on about his itinerary around Palestine for those 3 years Paul was not there. Yet as far as the Apostles were concerned after his conversion he was accepted as an Apostle.  God works in mysterious ways and his plans are beyond our plans.   

So, let us dig a little deeper here in these verses and find out a little more about Paul the Man and look at the facts;

1. Paul did not see himself fit to be called an Apostle

2. Paul  persecuted the church and he was forgiven

3. Paul was chosen by Jesus, literally out of the blue and Paul was converted.

4. Paul had to work harder than all the other Apostles  

Reflection

We can see that indeed Paul did work harder than all of the other Apostles and if tradition is correct, he was rewarded by being beheaded in Rome.  He truly repented of his sins and sold himself completely to the service of Christ; He suffered, was ostracized, laughed at, mocked, stoned and left for dead!  There are people that mock Paul even today, but we can see from the evidence that he was one of the Apostles.  He was an Apostle because Jesus chose Paul to work tirelessly for the gentiles.  In Galatians; How could Paul stand up to St Peters hypocrisy if he was not an Apostle? The Corinthians accepted him as an Apostle and as Christians we accept him as an Apostle.  The Apostolic Hand on this scripture in this chapter is seriously important for us today and we can be assured that we are in safe hands when trying to understand the resurrection that will also happen to us one day.          

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Death on a Cross

April 7, 2023

Our Lord Jesus’ Death on a Cross

The heart and centre of Christian theology comes from the Easter Story. Any mainline denomination including Protestants and Catholics including all the other variations bow the knee in humility for what our Lord Jesus did for us at Calvary.

(The image below is used under the free commons licence SIKU – Edge Group)

I would have liked to have gone through all of the Passion narratives this Easter but then I wouldn’t complete it.  Over the next couple of years as a meditation I want to go through the whole story carefully, but this takes time.  This time we are going to go to the story of the crucifixion.  On first reading we see how great God’s love is for all people. Jesus loved people such as prisoners, women, the poor, Gentiles, his disciples.  Through this message of the Gospel, that he would reach all people over the whole world.  God’s mercy and compassion reaches to the ends of the earth no matter what a person’s religion, ethnicity, or no religion.   Our Lord’s message is a call to repentance and to forsake the sinful selfish road for a road that Jesus as personal Saviour through faith and obedience. 

When we live our own selfish life are we really free?

We might think we are free because ‘we can do what we want’ and we can sin how we like. 

Is this true freedom?

Some may call it freedom but in reality, when a person puts themselves first it can mean that one can carry anger, jealousies, and bitterness towards other people. One can make enemies at the workplace or at other places.

With certain actions there can be negative effects:

  • Alcohol can lead to alcoholism.
  • Drugs can lead to dependencies.
  • Broken relationships can lead to loneliness’s?

Then

  • alcoholism can lead to divorces and depressed children
  • Dependencies can lead to stealing so that one can afford to buy more drugs
  • Loneliness can lead to various illnesses or even suicide.

So then, when we trust our own devices are we really truly free.  My answer is no we are not free.  Freedom in its truest sense comes through obedience to faith in the person and actions of our Lord Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.  Our Lord holds out an olive branch to the ‘whosoever will believe…’ In fact, if you are an addict, alcoholic, or lonely, Faith in Christ can turn your life around even before entering heaven.  Christians have been accused of using religion as a crutch. My answer is that it is better to have a crutch than no crutch at all and end up in the gutter with no hope. 

The Crucifixion

22 Then they *brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23 They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. 24 And they *crucified Him, and *divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. 25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him. 26 The inscription of the charge against Him read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

27 They *crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. 28 [And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”] 29 Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. 32 Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

33 When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” which is translated, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” 35 When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.” 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. 38 And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

40 There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome. 41 When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem. Mark 15:22-41

Commentary

22 Then they *brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23 They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. 24 And they *crucified Him, and *divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. 25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him. 26 The inscription of the charge against Him read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

We need to be aware about the facts and before I continue to interpret, it is important to look at the forensic evidences of the four Gospels. This is what a detective would do at a crime scene.  Perhaps there is a knife on the ground with blood on it.  Perhaps there were three witnesses and each witness had the same story but some of the facts did not match up in the order given.  This does not mean that the witnesses were lying but the detectives job is to investigate and by looking at all the facts come to a conclusion which is the likeliest thing to have happened.

Our Lord Jesus died a horrible death, and it has been recorded by four writers.  The one thing that is certain is that Jesus died, and all four writers agree that Jesus was the Messiah.  These things needed to be said because there are times that the Evangelists sometimes put the order of events differently or on the face of it some facts on the surface may seem to contradict.

Verse 22-23

Jesus was brought to the place of the skull and he was offered wine/vinegar/ myrrh and in this version it says he refused to drink it.  In johns Gospel however Jesus asks for the wine/vinegar/ myrrh and he drinks it.  I haven’t looked at any commentaries yet suffice to say I think there is sometime of theological meaning going on here, so we need to dig a little deeper to find out.

Calvin and Professor Judith lieu both agree that the sour wine was about mocking Jesus even in his death.  Calvin on John however says that this wine here is a separate event on the cross, when Jesus actually asked for real genuine wine because he was thirsty.  (

  • A harmony og the Gospels, pages 193-196,
  • John Calvin, The Saint Andrew press
  • The Gospel of Luke, page 195, Judith Lieu, Epworth Press

)

Reflection

The Good News that Jesus gives us is true freedom.  Even while he was on the cross, he saved a thief by letting him into Paradise.  His words on the cross were only to do with forgiveness.  On the cross he said Father forgive them for they know not they do.  For a moment in the whole of eternity God the Father could not look at his son because of the sins of the world that He, our Lord Jesus bore in our place.   Jesus loves you and he invites you to come to him and by faith it is possible for you to be in God’s presence forever.

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