Category Archives: Bible Study

Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 26: Lord’s Supper Sacrament or Sacrifice?

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After a brief review, we show how God has been teaching the same thing in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus Christ is the one propitiatory sacrifice which merits forgiveness. God is giving out that forgiveness through the promise of His Word to be received by faith. Second, we apply the terms sacrament or sacrifice to the Reformed, Scriptural, and Roman teaching concerning the Lord’s Supper.

–The Reformed churches teach that Lord’s Supper is a sacrifice which man does in order to honor God.  The reformed reenact the Lord’s Supper to show their obedience toward God.  It is a mark of their will to love God.  When others see it, then they know that this person is a Christian.

–The Roman church considers the Lord’s Supper to be a sacrifice in which the Roman priest offers up the Lord’s Supper to merit forgiveness of sins for the living and the dead. Faith in not required to receive benefits.

–The Scriptures teach that the Lord’s Supper is a sacrament, in which God graciously desires to give us the forgiveness of sins merited by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.  The Lord’s Supper is a sign of God’s will toward man.

Handout 1: Sacrament-in-AP-XXIV-Handout-for-Nov-18-2018.pdf
Overheads 1 (Review): Overheads-for-Nov-18-2018-Review.pdf
Overheads 2: Overheads-for-Nov-18-2018-Comparison.pdf

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Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 25 Old Testament Sacrifices

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In the Old Testament, the Triune God directed and provided for a Levitical priesthood and a sacrificial system for the Israelites. He included a faith-creating promise with these sacrifices. Thus, God’s Old Testament provisions are to be considered sacraments.

The Apology to the Augsburg Confession, XXIV, 53, “…the Levitical priesthood was an image of the priesthood of Christ. For the Levitical sacrifices for sins did not merit the remission of sins before God; they were only an image of the sacrifice of Christ, which was to be the one propitiatory sacrifice, as we have said above. 54] Therefore the Epistle is occupied to a great extent with the topic that the ancient priesthood and the ancient sacrifices were instituted not for the purpose of meriting the remission of sins before God or reconciliation, but only to signify the future sacrifice of Christ alone. 55] For in the Old Testament it was necessary for saints to be justified by faith derived from the promise of the remission of sins that was to be granted for Christ’s sake, just as saints are also justified in the New Testament. From the beginning of the world it was necessary for all saints to believe that Christ would be the promised offering and satisfaction for sins, as Isaiah 53, 10 teaches: When Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin.

56] Since, therefore, in the Old Testament, sacrifices did not merit reconciliation, unless by a figure (for they merited civil reconciliation), but signified the coming sacrifice, it follows that Christ is the only sacrifice applied on behalf of the sins of others. Therefore, in the New Testament no sacrifice is left to be applied for the sins of others, except the one sacrifice of Christ upon the cross.

The Old Testament Prophets continued to condemn the opinion of the people who thought that God was pleased with works-righteous sacrifices, simply on account of their having done the work apart from faith.

Handout 1: The-Third-Genus-Prophet-Priest-Pages-1-8.pdf
Handout 2: Sacrament-in-AP-XXIV-Handout-for-Nov-4-2018.pdf
Overheads 1 (Review): Sacrament-Sacrifice-Overheads-on-November-4-2018.pdf
Overheads 2: OT-Sacrifice-Overheads-on-November-11-2018b.pdf
Overheads 3: Jeremiah-7-Hear-Obey.pdf

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Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 24 Sacrament-Sacrifice

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In the Old Testament, God demanded sacrifices to make atonement for sins(Lev 17:11). However, in the New Testament it says, “…For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4). In order to figure out this conundrum, we first make a distinction between those ceremonies/sacred works which are sacraments and those which are sacrifices. Next, we make a distinction between the two kinds of sacrifices: propitiatory and eucharistic. Our high Priest, according to both His human and divine natures, made the only propitiatory sacrifice to merit the forgiveness of sins. All other sacrifices are eucharistic sacrifices, which do not merit forgiveness, but instead give honor and thanks to God for the forgiveness of sins which a person has already received.

The Apology to the Augsburg Confession, XXIV, 27 makes it clear that, “The Jews also did not understand their ceremonies aright, and imagined that they were righteous before God when they had wrought works ex opere operato. Against this the prophets contend with the greatest earnestness.”  The Old Testament Prophets continued to condemn the opinion of the people who thought that God was pleased with works-righteous sacrifices, simply on account of their having done the work apart from faith.

Handout 1: The-Third-Genus-Prophet-Priest-Pages-1-8.pdf
Handout 2: Sacrament-in-AP-XXIV-Handout-for-Nov-4-2018.pdf
Overheads: Sacrament-Sacrifice-Overheads-on-November-4-2018.pdf

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Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 23: Our Exalted High Priest

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Our High Priest Jesus Christ “continues forever” (Heb 7:24). Through both His human and divine natures conjointly, He continues as our High Priest in His state of exaltation(Rom 8:34). Though the atonement is completed “once for all” (Heb 9:12), His priestly work of intercession continues.  “He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25). Through the Word and Sacraments presented by the Pastoral Office, our Prophet/Priest is preaching the Gospel promise of forgiveness through faith in the atonement.  1 Tim 2:5-6, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle….”  Our High Priest, who appointed prophets, apostles and pastors, is working through the Pastoral Office to reconcile men to Himself.  2 Corinthians 5:19-20 says, “that is, that God … has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”

Handout 1: The-Third-Genus-Prophet-Priest-Pages-1-8.pdf

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Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 22: 3rd Genus Jesus the Priest

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This study begins to examine the execution of Christ’s work as High Priest.  Everything which the Savior did and still does to save sinful mankind (His official acts) may not be ascribed to either of His natures exclusively, but must be ascribed to both natures conjointly (The Apotelesmaticum Genus).

Appointed by the heavenly Father(Heb 5:5-6), Jesus took on human flesh.  The God-Man did His priestly work of atoning for the sins of the world (1 Jn 2:2). He has completed that atonement work once for all (Rom 6:10, Heb 10:10). We distinguish within His work of redemption(Gal 4:5) His active obedience in keeping the law and His passive obedience in suffering and dying to take away the punishment which we deserved(1 Cor 15:3). Though faith in Christ’s atonement, believers are declared righteous (Rom 5:19b). Our high Priest “always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25).

Handout 1: The-Third-Genus-Prophet-Priest-Pages-1-8.pdf

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Theology Summary Bible Class Pt 21: 3rd Genus: Prophet concluded

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This audio concludes the study of Christ’s work as the promised Prophet for us. As we have seen in the Holy Scriptures, we have no right to ascribe to the Son of God after His incarnation, any activity outside His flesh. Now that Jesus has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, he continues to work as our Prophet according to both of His natures through the ministry of the Word. With Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus promises to be present through the baptizing and teaching of His New Testament ministers.  St. Paul confesses that his preaching is “Christ speaking in Me” (2 Cor 13:3). St Luke 10:16 records Jesus’ promise associated with the Office of the Ministry, saying, “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”

Everything which the Savior did and still does to save sinful mankind (His official acts) may not be ascribed to either of His natures exclusively, but must be ascribed to both natures conjointly (The Apotelesmaticum Genus).

Handout 1:  The-Third-Genus-Prophet-pages-1-4.pdf

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Theology Summary Bible Class Pt. 20: Third Genus: Jesus The Prophet

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Everything which the Savior did and still does to save sinful mankind (His official acts) may not be ascribed to either of His natures exclusively, but must be ascribed to both natures conjointly (The Apotelesmaticum Genus).  This study examines the execution of Christ’s work as the promised Prophet for us.

When the Scriptures speak of Jesus’ work of saving us, we see that He determined to do it by the taking on of human flesh.  His incarnation was necessary so that He might begin the fulfillment of His salvific work for us.  In St. Mark 1:38, Jesus says, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.”  The work of the God-Man, the whole Christ, is revealed in His preaching.  Jesus didn’t just preach as would any ordinary man.  “He who comes from heaven is above all.  And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies” (Jn 3:31-32). Making use of His divine attributes, “He taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mt 7:28-29).

Handout 1:  Genus-Diagrams.pdf
Handout 2:  The-Third-Genus-Prophet-pages-1-4.pdf

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Theology Summary Bible Class Pt. 19: The Modes of Christ’s Presence

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The Scriptures speak of at least three modes of Christ’s presence: illocal, local, and supernatural.  This study continues to explain the second genus in which Christ’s divine attributes were communicated to His human nature so that it was enriched.

Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, VII:  4. The fourth, that God has and knows of many modes of being in any place, and not only the single one concerning which the fanatics talk flippantly, and which philosophers call localem, or local.  98] Also: The one body of Christ [says Luther] has a threefold mode or all three modes of being anywhere.

99] First, the comprehensible, bodily mode, as He went about bodily upon earth, when, according to His size, He vacated and occupied space [was circumscribed by a fixed place]. This mode He can still use whenever He will, as He did after the resurrection, and will use at the last day, as Paul says, 1 Tim. 6, 15: “Which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed God [and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords].” And to the Colossians, 3, 4: “When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear.” In this manner He is not in God or with the Father, neither in heaven, as the mad spirits dream; for God is not a bodily space or place. And this is what the passages how Christ leaves the world and goes to the Father refer to which the false spirits cite.

100] Secondly, the incomprehensible, spiritual mode, according to which He neither occupies nor vacates space, but penetrates all creatures wherever He pleases [according to His most free will]; as, to make an imperfect comparison, my sight penetrates and is in air, light, or water, and does not occupy or vacate space; as a sound or tone penetrates and is in air or water or board and wall, and also does not occupy or vacate space; likewise, as light and heat penetrate and are in air, water, glass, crystal, and the like, and also do not vacate or occupy space; and much more of the like [many comparisons of this matter could be adduced]. This mode He used when He rose from the closed [and sealed] sepulcher, and passed through the closed door [to His disciples], and in the bread and wine in the Holy Supper, and, as it is believed, when He was born of His mother [the most holy Virgin Mary].

101] Thirdly, the divine, heavenly mode, since He is one person with God, according to which, of course, all creatures must be far more penetrable and present to Him than they are according to the second mode. For if, according to that second mode, He can be in and with creatures in such a manner that they do not feel, touch, circumscribe, or comprehend Him, how much more wonderfully will He be in all creatures according to this sublime third mode, so that they do not circumscribe nor comprehend Him, but rather that He has them present before Himself, circumscribes and comprehends them! For you must place this being of Christ, who is one person with God [for you must place this mode of presence of Christ which He has by His personal union with God], very far, far outside of the creatures, as far as God is outside of them; and again as deep and near within all creatures as God is within them. For He is one inseparable person with God; where God is, there must He also be, 102] or our faith is false.

Handout 1:Second-Genus-and-Omnipresence-b.pdf
Handout 2:  Comm-of-Attributes-Application-WITHOUT-ANSWERS-b.pdf
Handout 2A:  Communication-of-Attributes-PAGE-3-ANSWERS.pdf

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Theology Summary Bible Class Pt. 18: The Human Nature is Enriched

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In this lesson, we see that the divine attributes of Christ were communicated to His human nature so that it was enriched.  This happened at the incarnation.  Jesus is not simply a man who was endowed with super abilities from time to time.  According to Colosssians 2:9, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, VIII:  12] We believe, teach, and confess also that the assumed human nature in Christ not only has and retains its natural, essential properties, but that over and above these, through the personal union with the Deity, and afterwards through glorification, it has been exalted to the right hand of majesty, power, and might, over everything that can be named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come [Eph. 1, 21].

26] Hence also the human nature, after the resurrection from the dead, has its exaltation above all creatures in heaven and on earth; which is nothing else than that He entirely laid aside the form of a servant, and yet did not lay aside His human nature, but retains it to eternity, and is put in the full possession and use of the divine majesty according to His assumed human nature. However, this majesty He had immediately at His conception, even in His mother’s womb, but, as the apostle testifies [Phil. 2, 7], laid it aside; and, as Dr. Luther explains, He kept it concealed in the state of His humiliation, and did not employ it always, but only when He wished.

At the end of this lesson we looked at the distinction between Christ and believers.  At Christ’s incarnation, His human nature received the fullness of divine attributes.  Believers, prophets and apostles  and saints also receive gifts due to their union with Christ and according to His graciousness, but those gifts are limited and require reliance upon the Triune God.

Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, VIII:  72] But we believe, teach, and confess that God the Father has so given His Spirit to Christ, His beloved Son, according to the assumed humanity (on account of which He is called also Messias, i.e., the Anointed), that He has not received His gifts by measure as other saints. For upon Christ the Lord, according to His assumed human nature (because, according to His divinity, He is of one essence with the Holy Ghost), rests the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge [and of the fear of the Lord, Col. 2, 3; Is. 11, 2; 61, 1], 73] not in such a way that on this account, as a man, He knew and could do only some things, as other saints know and can do by the Spirit of God, who works in them only created gifts, but since Christ, according to His divinity, is the second person in the Holy Trinity, and from Him, as also from the Father, the Holy Ghost proceeds, and thus is and remains His and the Father’s own Spirit to all eternity, not separated from the Son of God, therefore (as the Fathers say) the entire fullness of the Spirit has been communicated by the personal union to Christ according to the flesh, which is personally united with the Son of God. 74] This voluntarily manifests and shows itself, with all its power therein, therewith and thereby [in, with, and through the human nature of Christ], so that He [Christ, according to His human nature] not only knows some things and is ignorant of others, can do some things and is unable to do others, but [according to the assumed human nature] knows and can do all things. For upon Him the Father poured without measure the Spirit of wisdom and power, so that, as man, He has received through this personal union all knowledge and all power in deed and truth. And thus all the treasures of wisdom are hidden in Him, thus all power is given to Him, and He is seated at the right hand of the majesty and power of God.

Handout 1:  Second-Genus-.pdf
Handout 2:  Comm-of-Attributes-Application-WITHOUT-ANSWERS-b.pdf
Handout 2A:  Communication-of-Attributes-PAGE-3-ANSWERS.pdf
Handout 3: Jesus-and-Believers-for-Sept-23-2018.pdf

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Theology Summary Bible Class Pt. 17: The Mystery of Godliness

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In this lesson, we begin to fill in page 3 of the Communication of Attributes sheet.  The left column lists a Scripture passage which presents an attribute of the divine nature of Christ, while the right column gives an attribute of the human nature of Christ.  How do we speak about these attributes which both belong to the one person?  In this lesson, we see that the Scriptures ascribe each attribute to the whole person.

How do we speak about these divine and human attributes in the Christ when they contradict?  The Scriptures teach that the Christ, who is both true God and true Man, did not always and fully make use of his divine attributes.  Thus, we applied the teaching from last week concerning Christ’s state of humiliation and state of exaltation.

Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, VIII:  20] On account of this personal union, which cannot be thought of nor exist without such a true communion of the natures, not the mere human nature, whose property it is to suffer and die, has suffered for the sins of the world, but the Son of God Himself truly suffered, however, according to the assumed human nature, and (in accordance with our simple Christian faith) [as our Apostles’ Creed testifies] truly died, although the divine nature can neither suffer nor die. …

26] Hence also the human nature, after the resurrection from the dead, has its exaltation above all creatures in heaven and on earth; which is nothing else than that He entirely laid aside the form of a servant, and yet did not lay aside His human nature, but retains it to eternity, and is put in the full possession and use of the divine majesty according to His assumed human nature. However, this majesty He had immediately at His conception, even in His mother’s womb, but, as the apostle testifies [Phil. 2, 7], laid it aside; and, as Dr. Luther explains, He kept it concealed in the state of His humiliation, and did not employ it always, but only when He wished.

Handout 1:  Comm-of-Attributes-Application-WITHOUT-ANSWERS-b.pdf
Handout 1A:  Communication-of-Attributes-PAGE-3-ANSWERS.pdf

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