Author Archive: mdhauz

Chapel on March 3 2017

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Every weekday the children from our Early Childhood Learning Center walk over to Trinity Lutheran Church for chapel (an abbreviated order of Matins from p.208 in Lutheran Worship) at 10:00 AM, led by Pastor Henson.

In this video from March 1, 2017, the Bible readings were from St. Matthew 21 (Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem) and St. Matthew 4 (Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness).  We used the following hymns:  #212 “We All Believe in One True God, Father” #94 “Christ, the Life of All the Living,” #102 “All Glory, Laud, and Honor,” and “Jesus Loves Me.”    [Length: 18 minutes]

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Galatians Bible Study, Pt. 27: The Paidagogos Brings Us to Christ

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Class #27:   The purpose of the law was to reveal sin.  The purpose of the promise(gospel) was to give life.  The purpose of the law and the purpose of the gospel are not against each other.  The law prepares us to receive the gospel.

The law functioned like a παιδαγωγος (paidagogos, “tutor” NKJV, from Galatians 3:24 ) to bring us to Christ.  The paidagogos was a slave who accompanied a male minor age 7 to 17 to school and wherever he went.  By means of discipline and restraint, the paidagogos supervised the immature boy and guarded him until he came of age.  When the boy becomes a mature heir, the son is no longer under a paidagogos. Similarly, with the coming of Christ, “we are no longer under a tutor.”  Faith in Christ declares us to be righteous (justification) and brings new desires(Gal 4:6).  The believer is no longer being forced against his will by the prodding of the law.

Overhead: Galatians Class 27 Overhead
Handouts: Galatians Chapter Three 19 to Chapter Four 7

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Galatians Bible Study, Pt. 26: Moses’ Veil Removed

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Class #26:   When God Himself spoke the law to the Jews at Mt. Sinai, the people trembled with fear and ran away.  Their reaction showed that the law certainly didn’t justify or give life.  The people cried out to Moses for a mediator, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exodus 20:19).  The sin-revealing-law announces wrath and condemnation which creates fear.  Without faith in the true mediator, Jesus Christ, the law would have resulted in death.

Later when Moses tried to speak to them, they ran away from him in fear because his face was glowing.  The Israelites were still unable to endure the full strength of the law.  The veil placed over Moses’ face so that the Israelites could stomach the law was a sign of their spiritual condition.  “Deceived by human wisdom, they did not see the true face of Moses. But only his veiled face…” (Apology, IV, 229).  With their watered-down law, they trusted in their outward and civil works, falsely thinking they had satisfied the law.

“When we are consoled by faith through hearing the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins, we receive the Holy Spirit, so that we can think rightly about God, fear him, and believe in him” (Ap. IV, 135).  Only through the coming of the promised Seed, Jesus Christ is the false opinion about the purpose of the law removed.  Without faith, we must run from the terrible wrath of God.  With sin forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ, we are able to love God—even approach him.  Though I am a poor miserable sinner who deserves punishment, I know that God loves me, has forgiven me, and is working out all things for my good.  “When a man turns to the Lord, the veil is removed” (2 Cor. 3:13-15).

Overhead: Galatians Class 26 Overhead
Handouts: Veil of Moses
Use page two of Galatians Chapter Three 15 to 25

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Galatians Bible Study, Pt. 25: The Law Increases Sin

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Class #25:  Sinful human reason wrongly assumes that God gave the law so that by keeping it people would become righteous and thus be saved.  When told that the law and the works of the law do not contribute to our salvation, the usual response is to assume an antinomian (against the law) position.  Slanderously they accuse St. Paul of abolishing the law and saying, “Let us do evil, that good may come” (Rom 3:8).  St. Paul’s answer is that the law “was added for the sake of transgressions” (Galatians 3:19).  This does not mean that the law’s purpose was to reduce sin, but the very opposite.  The giving of the law increased sin (Romans 5:20).  The law both exposed sin (Rom 3;20), and stirred up the sinful nature, which desires to do that which is forbidden (Rom 7:7ff).

The law was temporary and designed only to prepare for the promise of the Gospel.  The law lasted only until the Seed, Jesus Christ, came.  Jesus Christ forgives sin and frees from the requirements and curse of the law.

Overhead: Galatians Class 25 Overhead
Handouts: Use page two of Galatians Chapter Three 15 to 25

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Galatians Bible Study, Pt. 24: Gospel + Law = Law

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Class #24:  In Galatians 3:15-18, St. Paul uses the example of the unchangeability of a probated last will and testament to teach about the divine covenant which God made with Abraham and Christ (Genesis 3;15, Galatians 22:18).  The introduction of the law 430 years later cannot annul the promises made to Abraham and received through faith in the promise.  Furthermore, because the law is not of faith (Gal 3:12), you cannot add law, as a kind of codicil to a promise.  When you add any law to an inheritance of promise, “it is no longer of promise” (Gal 3:18).  Therefore, St. Paul concludes that it is by faith in the promise alone, without works of the law, that a person is saved.
If the law was neither an addition, nor an annulment of the gospel promise, then what is the purpose of the law?  St. Paul will answer that question when we resume our Bible Study in two weeks.

Overhead: Galatians Class 24 Overhead
Handouts: Galatians Chapter Three 15 to 25 and seed offspring descendant NKJV

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Galatians Bible Study, Pt. 23: In Christ, No Curse

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Class #23:  When St. Paul teaches “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Gal 3;13), he is uniting the fulfillment of the Law and the promise of the Gospel in one Person, Jesus.  Our Savior, who had led a perfect life of keeping the law, was made to be sin (2 Cor 5:21) and a curse, when the Lord “laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).  His purpose was that we might receive the blessing of Abraham and the promise of the Spirit by means of faith in the promised forgiveness.  “That is, the law condemns all men, but by undergoing the punishment of sin and becoming a sacrifice for us, the sinless Christ took away the right of the law to accuse and condemn those who believe in him, because he himself is their propitiation, for whose sake they are now accounted righteous” (Ap. IV 179).  Through faith in Christ, people are justified, as well as freed and liberated from the curse of the law.

Overhead: Galatians Class 23 Overhead
Handout: Lutheran Confessions Curse of the Law

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Galatians Bible Study, Pt. 22: Clearly No One Is Justified By The Law

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Class #22:  In Galatians 3:11-12, St. Paul cites two Scripture passages, one gospel and one law.  Surprisingly both law and gospel speak of the promise of giving life.  The gospel in Habakkuk 2:4 shows that God has always intended to declare a sinner righteous and give eternal life through faith.  The law in Leviticus 18:5 reveals that the person who has completed the works of the law perfectly will have life.  St. Paul draws the conclusion that no one is justified by the law, but he doesn’t attempt to prove it.  Though both the law and gospel offer life, the law is conditioned by man’s perfect obedience.  No need to prove the law, just send it out.  The law will do its work—it always accuses.  The law is not of faith.  Those who rely upon the law for justification are under the curse of the law.  Next week we hear that Christ has redeemed us from the curse.  We are justified through faith in Him.

Overhead: Galatians Class 22 Overhead
Handout: Page 2 of Galatians Bible Study Chapter 3 6-9

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Galatians Bible Study, Pt. 21: The Curse of the Law

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Class #21:  Galatians 3:10 teaches that those who seek to be justified by the law are under the curse of the law.  St. Paul cites Deuteronomy 27:26, which leaves no loopholes from which we could escape from that curse.  The curse is the divine verdict/pronouncement of wrath, death and destruction by God against lawbreakers.  The curse which rests upon those who rely on works of the law is meant to contrast with the justified children of Abraham who rely on the promise of salvation in Jesus Christ through faith alone.

Overhead: Galatians Class 21 Overhead
Handouts: Page 2 of Galatians Bible Study Chapter 3 6-9

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