Easter Sunday - The Resurrection and Union with Christ

Paul often speaks of Christ's resurrection in terms of its benefits for believers.  Specifically, what happens to Christ, in his human nature, is applied to Christ's people as they are in Spirit-wrought union with him by faith.  Paul describes Christ's resurrection as his justification, sanctification, and adoption.  First justification:

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. (1 Tim. 3:16)

The word here for vindicated is the same word as justification.  So we have to ask what it means for Christ to have been justified by the Spirit.  Now we know that Jesus was not sinful and so he never needed salvation as we do.  Yet we also know that he bore our sins in his body in his death.  So in his death he suffered the penalty for our sins even though he did not have any sin of his own.  In his resurrection by the Spirit, the Father declares that he accepts Jesus as righteous. In other words it is the sign that the Father accepts the obedience of the Son on behalf of his people and declares him to be righteous.  So as Jesus was truly condemned in his death because he bore our sins he is also truly justified in his resurrection as he is our righteousness.

Also the Bible is clear that Christ’s resurrection has to do with his sanctification.

We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. (Rom. 6:9-10)

So in Christ’s death he came under the power of sin because death is the consequence of sin (although this never ever means that Jesus became a sinner).  In his resurrection Jesus is delivered from this power and dominion.  So this is a reference to the definitive aspect of sanctification where the power of sin is broken and removed.  So the power of sin in our mortal bodies is destroyed in Christ’s resurrection as we are raised with him to new life in the Spirit.

Finally, Christ’s resurrection points to his adoption.

concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 1:3-4)

Again, this is a declaration of what happened regarding Christ in history.  He was descended from David according to the flesh.  But according to his resurrection he was declared to be powerful Son of God.  As the Second Person of the Trinity he was Son of God from all eternity.  However in his human nature he was descended from David as we see in the genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 4.  Here Paul refers to an economic reality about Christ.  As the eternal divine Second Person of the Trinity he was always Son of God even in his humiliation but now in his human nature and body he was declared to be Son of God in his glorification and resurrection.
 
Lane Tipton writes, "To be in Christ is to be in the one who has become for believers the crucified and resurrected embodiment of all saving benefits.  Therefore, there are no benefits of the gospel apart from union with Christ." (Lane G. Tipton, "Union with Christ and Justification," in Justified in Christ: God's Plan for Us in Justification, ed. by K. Scott Oliphint, Geanies House: Mentor, 2007, 23-49).  All of this is again to show that all the aspects of Christ's work (his atoning death, resurrection, ascension, and sending the Spirit at Pentecost) are inseparable and are completely effective for the salvation of his people.  The eternal Son of God takes to himself a human body and soul and suffers for our sins in our place and he rises from the dead in our place too.  If we are in Christ then in him we died to the penalty and power of sin and in him we are raised to righteousness and new life and are declared to be children of God.  Easter is a wonderful time of year to meditate on our justification, sanctification, and adoption in Christ and to praise God that even while we were dead in our trespasses in sin God made us alive in Christ for it is by grace that we have been saved (Eph. 2:4-6).  As Calvin wrote:
 

We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ.  We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else.  If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is “of him.”  If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing.  If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity, in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth. . . .  If we seek redemption, it lies in his passion; if acquittal, in his condemnation; if remission of the curse, in his cross; if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; if purification, in his blood; if reconciliation, in his descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb; if newness of life, in his resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in his Kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to him to judge.  In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain and from no other. (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.16.19)

 

Good Friday - Some Thoughts on the Atonement 6

Redemption

Conclusion

All of this serves to remind us that Good Friday is not a time to meditate on what we ought to do but rather upon what Christ did to save us.  J. Gresham Machen once wrote:

What good does it do me to tell me that the type of religion presented in the Bible is a very fine type of religion and that the thing for me to do is to just start practicing that type of religion now? I will tell you, my friend. It does not one tiniest bit of good! What I need first of all is not exhortation but a gospel, nor directions for saving myself, but knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news for me? That is the question I ask of you. I know your exhortations will not help me. But if anything has been done to save me, will you tell me the facts?

Christianity is not a religion about what we have to do but rather the proclamation of what has already been done.  The very word "gospel" means "good news."  The gospel is all about how sinners are made righteous before God and Good Friday is a time to remember that Christ's atonement means the salvation of sinners.

Good Friday - Some Thoughts on the Atonement 5

Reconciliation

Redemption

The atonement as sacrifice deals with the guilt of our sin, the atonement as propitiation deals with our unrighteousness, the atonement as reconciliation deals with God’s alienation from us, and the atonement as redemption deals with our bondage to sin.  Christ’s work as a whole means total salvation of the whole person from the penalty and power of sin.  Here we will focus on how the atonement redeems us from the curse of the law and from the power of sin.

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”  Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”  But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Gal. 3:10-14)

Now it is important for us to clarify here that we are not redeemed from the law.  That would be to say that we are redeemed from not having any God’s before the one true God of the covenant or to say we were redeemed from the requirement to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbor.  This would obviously be nonsense.  Instead the Bible does say that we are redeemed from the curse of the law. The curse of the law is its penal sanction for those who disobey it.  Because of our disobedience to God’s law we are under a curse and must be redeemed from that curse.  Christ has redeemed us by becoming a curse for us in hanging on the tree.  He paid the penal sanction that we owed.

and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Rom. 3:24-26)

In this passage we can see that we are redeemed from the guilt of sin.  Paul has finished his universal case against humanity in showing that we are all sinners who fall short of God’s glory.  So we are all under God’s wrath.  After this Paul proclaims that now we who believe in Jesus are justified and redeemed so that the guilt of our sins is paid for by the blood of Christ.  So there is no guilt for those who are in Christ and God is just in justifying us in him.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Tit. 2:11-14)

Here we see that redemption from the power of sin does not just mean its guilt but also its controlling influence.  Christ gave himself so that we might be redeemed from all lawlessness and might be purified and zealous for good works.  The grace of God in Christ’s atoning work is not a grace that takes place in a vacuum but is instead a grace that is tied to teaching us to renounce all ungodliness and worldly passions and to live in a manner that is please to God.  So redemption is not in anyway limited to penal sanctions or to guilt but is closely related to holiness and presenting us before God as actually redeemed from sin’s power. 

All of this emphasizes the point made above, salvation in Christ is the perfect salvation of our whole person.  It saves us from the penalty of sin (sacrifice).  It saves us from our own unrighteousness (propitiation).  It saves us from God's alienation from sinners (reconciliation).  It saves us from the curse, guilt, and power of sin (redemption).

Conclusion

Good Friday - Some Thoughts on the Atonement 4

Propitiation

Reconciliation

The atonement as sacrifice presupposes the guilt of sin and shows how the atonement provides for the payment of the penalty that the legal guilt demands.  The atonement as propitiation presupposes that we are legally unrighteous in the sight of God and shows how the atonement provides a covering so that God sees us as legally righteous before him.  The atonement as reconciliation presupposes that we are legally alienated from God and shows how the atonement makes it possible for us to drawnear to God.  What we have in mind here is not our enmity towards God but rather God’s alienation from us.  So it is appropriate to say that we are reconciled to God and not that God is reconciled to us.  God is the wronged party in the relationship.  So the action of reconciliation is the removal of God’s ground of alienation from us and the result of reconciliation is that our relationship with God is again harmonious and peaceful.  We will look at two passages on this.

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Rom. 5:8-11)

Paul does not have subjective human feelings, in the sense of our feeling alienated from God, in sight here but the divine attitude toward us because of the work of Christ.  So first we see that Paul’s focus is on what was accomplished once-for-all in history by the work of Christ.  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  We were reconciled to God through the death of his Son.  Along with this idea of reconciliation we see that Paul also says that we were justified by his blood.  We know that justification is a forensic and legal declaration of our standing before God.  Therefore we can say that reconciliation has a similar forensic force in declaring that God’s grounds for alienation from us have been removed.  So now we rejoice that we do not suffer alienation from God any longer but instead enjoy his favor and blessings upon us as we are in right relationship with him.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.  We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:18-21)

Here we can make several observations.  (1) We see that as God was reconciling us and the world to himself in and through Christ that this reconciliation is not our work but is the monergistic (one worker) activity of God.  He alone accomplishes the reconciliation in Christ.  (2) This is a completed work of God.  There is no further work of reconciliation that needs to be done.  In Christ God has accomplished his work of reconciliation.  It is finished and applied to each believer at the very beginning of their Christian life.  (3) Again we see that this reconciliation is forensic.  It is done as our sins are not counted against us but against Christ and that in turn his righteous is counted to us.  So the reconciliation is a legal declaration that the grounds for God’s alienation from us have been removed and that in Christ we now stand righteous before a just and holy God.  (4) This message of reconciliation is now the Gospel message that is proclaimed.  Murray writes:

The accomplished work of reconciliation is the message committed to the messengers of the gospel (ver. 19).  It constitutes the content of the message.  But the message is that which is declared to be a fact.  Conversion, it ought to be remembered, is not the gospel.  It is the demand of the gospel message and the proper response to it.  Any transformation which occurs in us is the effect in us of that which is proclaimed to have been accomplished by God.  The change in our hearts and minds presupposes the reconciliation. (John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman's, 1955, 41).

Therefore when we make an evangelistic plea for people to be reconciled to God we are not asking them to do something to accomplish that reconciliation.  We ask to claim by faith was Christ has already done to reconcile them and trust that the Holy Spirit works through that faith to apply the salvation that Christ accomplished to them.  The only grounds for proclaiming that sinners can be saved by God's grace through faith in Christ is the fact that Christ has accomplished salvation and made it available to as many as believe him (John 1:12).

Redemption

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Sacrifice

Propitiation

Christ's atonement as a sacrifice deals with the guilt of our sins and the atonement as a propitiation means that God’s wrath is now removed from us.  So the righteousness of Christ now covers over us so that God does not look at us in wrath but in pleasure.  John Murray writes:

Propitiation presupposes the wrath and displeasure of God and the purpose of propitiation is the removal of this displeasure.  Very simply stated the doctrine of propitiation means that Christ propitiated the wrath of God and rendered God propitious to his people. (John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman's, 1955, 30).

We can see this in Paul’s letter to the Romans.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.  For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Rom. 3:21-26)

Here Paul is trying to explain how God can justify sinners without becoming a liar through declaring what is unrighteous to be righteous.  So the question has to be how sinners are actually made to be righteous in the sight of God.  It cannot be by their own obedience to the law as no one perfectly obeys God’s law.  Instead all are sinners when judged by God law.  But the Gospel says that a righteousness that is from God apart from the law has now appeared.  So we are all justified by God’s grace through Christ who is our propitiation.  So God remains righteous because as we are redeemed in Christ we are found to be just in his sight, not by any lie or deceit on God’s part, but because we are covered by Christ’s righteousness.  By this we see that God is able to be consistent with his own character in justifying sinners.  Again, John Murray writes:

It is one thing to say that the wrathful God is made loving.  That would be entirely false.  It is another thing to say the wrathful God is loving.  That is profoundly true.  But it is also true that the wrath by which he is wrathful is propitiated through the cross.  This propitiation is the fruit of the love that provided it. . . .  God appeases his own holy wrath in the cross of Christ in order that the purpose of his love to lost men may be accomplished in accordance with and to the vindication of all the perfections that constitute his glory. (Murray, Redemption, 31-2).

This all helps to emphasize the gracious nature of God's work to redeem us in Christ.  In order to appease his own wrath the punishment had to be paid and this was done by Christ's sacrifice.  In order for us to be righteous we had to possess perfect compliance with all of God's demands in the law.  That is done by Christ's propitiation so that God looks upon us as righteous and Christ's and loves us as those who are obedient to him in the Son.

Reconciliation

Good Friday - Some Thoughts on the Atonement 2

Introduction and Obedience

Sacrifice

Christ’s atonement was a sacrifice on behalf of his people.  This is patterned after the Old Testament sacrificial system.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.  For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.  For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.  Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.  For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.”  And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.  Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.  But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.  And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Heb. 9:11-28)

Here the author of the epistle shows us that Christ’s death is a sacrifice or an expiation .  It is a payment for our sins.  The whole of the Levitical system pointed to the need for expiation where our sins are not imputed to our account and instead are paid for by blood.  In this the blood of Christ is efficacious as it is the perfect and final payment for all of our sins.  The payment in his blood purifies us so that we are fit to serve God.  Forgiveness of sins is only won through Christ’s vicarious death.  Our sins involve guilt and that guilt is transferred to the sin-bearer.  This was shown in the Old Testament as hands were laid on the head of the animal to symbolize that the guilt of the sin was transferred away from the supplicant.  This is seen as Christ takes our nature and pays the penalty of it so that the guilt is removed and we are forgiven.  This one time sacrifice was perfect as he was made incarnate at God's appointed time to put away the sins of his people once-for-all by virture of his sacrificial death.

Propitiation

Good Friday - Some Thoughts on the Atonement

Though I don't recommend observance of ecclesiastical calendars in the public worship of God I do think that they give us useful and helpful times to meditate on aspects of God's word to redeem us.  On Good Friday we can take some time to consider Christ's atonement.  The next series of five posts will be examining the nature of that atonement.  The Apostle John helps to show the importance of this as he was on the only of the Twelve present at Jesus crucifixion (John 19:26).  So he was a witness to all of Jesus' sufferings on the cross.  Those are ably described by Dr. C. Truman Davis who examines the medical nature of crucifixion.  Yet after witnessing these horrors John still describes Christ's atonement as the pre-eminent manifestation of God's love for us as he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:9).  In looking at the nature of Christ's atonement we'll look at it as obedience, sacrifice, propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption.

Obedience

The nature of Christ’s atonement is primarily grounded in his obedience.  We can say that the whole of Christ’s work as second and last Adam in making atonement is that he was perfectly obedient to the Father where the first Adam was not.  We see this often in Scripture but particularly in John’s Gospel:

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.  This charge I have received from my Father. (John 10:17-18)

Here we see that Christ’s work in providing atonement for his people was that he obeyed the charge given to him by the Father.  This is out of obedience and exercising his authority in the way that the Father directs.  This appears elsewhere as Jesus says that he came down from heaven not to do his own will but the will of the Father who sent him (John 6:38).  Isaiah’s prophecies of the Messiah’s atoning death treat him first of all as the servant of the Lord (Is. 52-53).  In announcing the fulfillment of this prophecy Paul says that Jesus, though being God, took the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7-8; Gal. 4:4).  In his epistle to the church in Rome Paul writes that it is through the obedience of Christ that the many are made righteous (Rom. 5:19).

Typically we make a distinction between the active and passive obedience of Christ.  This is to say that there are two distinct aspects of Christ’s obedience.  Here we should make two clarifying points.  When we talk about Christ’s passive obedience we do not in anyway mean that Christ was involuntarily subjected to the violence of crucifixion.  That would go against the very idea of obedience in the things that he suffered. Second, we must avoid the mistake of saying that Christ’s righteous life was his active obedience and his sufferings and death were his passive obedience.  Active and passive obedience are not a distinction between periods of his life.

The true purpose of this distinction is to say that God’s law has both penal sanctions and positive demands.  So we see that holiness before God demands both perfect obedience to God’s law as we see that keeping the law means keeping the law at every point (James 2:10) and that God’s law demands punishment whenever there is a violation.  So Christ’s active obedience consists in that he perfectly obeyed the law of God and was without sin while his passive obedience consists in that he perfectly suffered all of the penalties for our violation of God’s law.  Thus Paul writes that Jesus became sin for us (passive obedience) that we might become the righteousness of God in him (active obedience) (1 Cor. 5:21).  This can be seen in the letter to the Hebrews.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.  Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.  And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Heb. 5:7-10)

Here we can see several things about Christ’s obedience:

1. It was as the Second Person of the Trinity, as the eternal Son of God, became incarnate that he was perfectly obedient to the Father in the flesh. This is not limited to the fact that he became incarnate but throughout the entire time of his days on earth in the flesh he was perfectly obedient.

2. It was not only through his death that Jesus exercised his perfect obedience but throughout his time on earth and all the things that he suffered including hunger, thirst, beatings, mockings, scourgings, his crucifixion, and even emotional sufferings as he wept after the death of Lazarus.  Throughout all of this Christ remained perfectly obedient to the will of the Father.

3. It is through his death on the cross as the supreme act of obedience that Jesus becomes the only source of eternal salvation to all who obey him and therefore place their faith in him and repent of their sins.

4. It is this perfect obedience of Christ that is imputed to his people so that it is as we are in him that we are saved. Christ’s passive obedience is imputed to us so that his sufferings and death on the cross are the satisfaction of our sins and guilt. Christ’s active obedience is imputed to us as God looks at us as righteous in Christ.  This shows us that there is nothing else we can do in relation to the law of God.  Christ's sacrifice, made 2,000 years ago, perfectly satisfied the penalty for our all our past, present, and future transgressions.  His perfect is credited to us so that in the eyes of the law we are declared to be perfectly righteous before the Judge of all.

5. “Obedience, therefore, is not something that may be conceived of artificially or abstractedly.  It is obedience that enlisted all the resources of his perfect humanity, obedience that resided in his person, and obedience of which he is ever the perfect embodiment.  It is obedience that finds its permanent efficacy and virtue in him.  And we become the beneficiaries of it, indeed the partakers of it, by union with him.  It is this that serves to advertise the significance of that which is the central truth of all soteriology, namely, union and communion with Christ.” (John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman's, 1955, 24).

Sacrifice

Jesus' Triumphal Entry in Matthew and Zechariah

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry in Matthew and Zechariah

By Matthew Pickens

Matthew makes numerous citations of and illusions to Zechariah 9-14 throughout his passion narrative. This pattern starts on the first day of that narrative with Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem. Matthew records this event in 21:1-11. He begins by citing Jesus’ instructions to the disciples to go into the village, bring a donkey and her colt to him, and explain their actions to anyone who asks by saying, “The Lord needs them.” (Matt. 21:2-3) Matthew then tells us that this is to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet (Matt. 21:4). He cites:

Say to the daughter of Zion,
'Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” (Matt. 21:5)

Matthew is citing Zechariah 9:9 with a couple of changes. First, Zechariah opens this prophecy (Zech. 9:9-13) with an exhortation, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!” Matthew instead writes, “Say to the daughter of Zion.” What he does is amend his quotation by mixing Zechariah 9:9 with Isaiah 61:11b. The reason he uses Isaiah’s “say” instead of Zechariah’s “Rejoice” is to change the focus of the citation to an evangelistic appeal to unbelieving Israel, which is the original audience of his Gospel.

Second, Matthew omits “righteous and having salvation is he” from Zechariah’s prophecy. “Having salvation” is probably better translated in the NRSV as “victorious.” This explains Matthew’s omission of this line. While from the time of his baptism until his passion Jesus works many miracles in Matthew’s Gospel his true victory is achieved in his resurrection. Because that has not yet happened at this point in Matthew’s narrative he omits the line about victory. The same is true in the parallel text in John 12:15-16.

The whole passage and its connection to Zechariah 9 helps to stress several important truths about Jesus’ work. First, the primary import of Jesus entering the city while riding on a donkey is not to emphasize his lowliness but rather his kingship. Normally pilgrims traveling into Jerusalem for the Passover celebration would walk into the city. Jesus rides into the city as a king. Matthew explicitly tells us that Jesus does this in order to fulfill what the prophet wrote, “Your king is coming to you.”

Second, as Jesus enters the city riding on a donkey this tells us something about the nature of what he comes as a king to accomplish. He does not enter Jerusalem on a mighty war horse. This would show that he comes into the city intending to conquer or as a returning king who has conquered. Instead he comes on a donkey because the purpose of his kingship is to speak peace. Zechariah follows this verse by writing that Yahweh “will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off and he will speak peace to the nations.” (Zech. 9:10a-b) Jesus comes into Jerusalem as the King whose rule is from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth (Zech. 9:10c) but he does so in order to speak peace to all the nations.

Third, Matthew, by the line he omits, leaves us looking for how Jesus will also be the victorious king from Zechariah. The triumphal entry builds the anticipation of the ultimate victory that Jesus accomplishes in his death and resurrection. He comes as king to speak peace to the nations but he will only do this by first waging war against Satan, sin, and death and his method of waging war is by his perfectly righteous obedience to the Father in dying for the sins of his people. The songs of the pilgrims heighten this anticipation as they cite Messianic prophecies about the promised Davidic King, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt. 21:9b citing Psalm 118) Jesus comes in the name of Yahweh, wielding the very power of Yahweh, and in his person Yahweh is present. Jesus comes having salvation and accomplishing it in the events that mark the end of his first advent with his death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. Palm Sunday is a time where we draw our attention to Jesus as the coming and triumphant king who accomplishes peace, as, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:1)

Obedient in All Things

So Dick reminded me just now that it's been a long time, over a month in fact, since I posted on here. Sadly I've been swamped with school and work but just haven't remembered to take the time to get something up. So here's a new post and hopefully I can keep them coming on a more regular basis now.

Obedient in all Things
By Matthew Pickens

I think that Matthew 17:24-27 is a fascinating passage that we often gloss over when we read Matthew’s account of Jesus life. This is the passage where collectors come to Peter to ask if Jesus will pay the temple tax. Peter immediately answers affirmatively. When Peter comes into the house Jesus asks him, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” Peter rightly answers, “From others.” Jesus points out that this means that the sons are free from the tax. His implication is that as Son of God he does not have to pay the tax due to the King of the temple. Yet he then gives Peter instructions to go and catch and fish and promises that there will be enough money in the fish’s mouth to pay the tax for both Jesus and Peter.

The reason I find this passage so intriguing is because it really gives us a fascinating picture of Jesus’ relationship to the Old Testament and to the Old Testament law in particular. We should consider Jesus’ comments about how he is free from this tax. First, we should remember that as the eternal Second Person of the Trinity the temple tax was ultimately due to Jesus. Second, ultimately Jesus was the source and giver of the Old Testament law that commanded the tax. Third, because he is Son of God Jesus was the true heir of the King who commanded and received the temple tax and therefore he was free from it just like any prince would not have to pay taxes to his own father.

This should lead us to ask why Jesus decided to pay the tax anyway. It certainly wasn’t simply because Peter said that Jesus would. Instead this is an example of Jesus’ voluntarily submitting himself to the law on our behalf. Matthew tells us that at the Jordan River John did not want to baptize Jesus because he knew that he was the one who should have been baptized by the Christ. Yet Jesus insists upon being baptized by John “in order to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matt. 3:13-15) This scene tells us that Jesus does not undergo a baptism of repentance because he had any sins of his own that needed repentance but rather in order to identify himself with his Messianic people. Jesus is baptized at the Jordan River to show that he will represent us before God and God accepts this sign of obedience by proclaiming from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17)

So what we see here in Matthew 17 is the outworking of Jesus’ identifying himself with us. He does not obey this law about the temple tax for his own good. Instead he does it so that as our representative he might be perfectly obedient to all of God’s commands. Paul tells us that the many are made righteous through the obedience of the one Man, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:19). Theologically when we talk about the imputation of Jesus’ obedience to us we talk about both his active and passive obedience. Here we just mean that God’s law has both commands we must obey and then proclaims the penalty of death for disobedience. Jesus’ active obedience means that he perfectly obeyed all of God’s commands in our place and his passive obedience means that he also bore the punishment for our disobedience when he died on the cross.

So the next time you come across this story about the temple tax in your readings take a moment to remember that 2,000 years ago Jesus lived a life that was perfectly obedient to all of God’s laws so that in union with him you are also considered to be perfectly obedient. He then also bore God’s wrath in your place so that God’s righteous justice is perfectly satisfied. This is what Paul means when he writes to the church in Corinth, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

Matthew's Use of Zechariah's Prophecy - Part 1

The book of Zechariah divides into the two major sections of chapters 1-8 and 9-14. Matthew quotes the book of Zechariah three times in his gospel and all three come from the later section. Interestingly, all three quotations are also found in Matthew’s Passion narrative. So Matthew sees the fulfillment of Zechariah 9-14 in Jesus’ death and resurrection. We will look at these quotations over the next week as we celebrate Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter.

Our focus this Palm Sunday is going to be on Matthew’s use of Zechariah 9:9 in the context of Jesus’ triumphal entry. Matthew explicitly links what Jesus does in this passage to the prophet:

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
“Say to the daughter of Zion,‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey,and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” (Mat. 21:4-5)

Now in Zechariah this verse begins by telling the daughter of Jerusalem to “rejoice.” Matthew changes this to “say” and combines this quotation with Isaiah 61:11. The effect of this is to make the quotation an evangelistic appeal to unbelieving Israel. Remember that the purpose of Matthew’s gospel was an apologetic for the message of Jesus Christ to the Jewish people and so he wanted to both show them that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures and also to call them to faith in Jesus Christ and repentance of sins. So his use of the Old Testament often mixes these two goals.

First we should look at Zechariah 9:9 in its original context. This passage is the announcement of the coming of the Messiah, who is prefigured earlier in Zechariah by the High Priest Joshua and Zerubabbel the Governor, but has now arrived. In Zechariah the king enters Jerusalem as one who is already vindicated and comes to a city that celebrates a victory that is already won. By riding into the city on a donkey, on the foal of a donkey, the king also shows that his entrance is peaceful. If he were coming to war then he would ride in on a war horse (Zech. 10:3). Further, the king will from Jerusalem speak peace to all the nations and establish a universal reign (Zech. 9:10).

As we turn to Matthew’s use of this verse we notice something very interesting. Here is Zechariah 9:9:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech. 9:9)

Notice that one line in omitted in Matthew’s citation. Matthew deliberately chooses not to include, “righteous and having salvation is he.” The reason for this is that as we saw, Zechariah 9:9 in its original context discusses a victory that has already been accomplished. In the context of the triumphal entry in Matthew’s Gospel this victory has not yet taken place. Jesus has performed great miracles but his greatest victory, his resurrection, is still in the future in the gospel. So “righteous and having salvation is he” does not fit in Matthew 21 but belongs to Matthew 28. So the effect of the omission is to stress the lowliness of the King as he enters the city and also to build the reader’s anticipation to see how he will be victorious and then to hear him speak peace to the nations in establishing his universal reign.

So along with the lowliness of the King we see the royalty of Jesus emphasized. Garments are placed on the animal and Jesus rides. In contrast to all the pilgrims who walk into the city the King sits. The people take palm branches and their garments and lay them before him on the road. Again this emphasizes the royal character of his entrance. Finally we see that they call him “the Son of David,” as he is by birth; and also “the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” This serves the Christology in the book of Matthew. He is the conquering King who comes into the city and his arrival is what Matthew sees as a gospel call to all people. And he does come to conquer but not in the war the people expect him to wage. Instead he comes in the name of the Lord to conquer sin and death in his crucifixion and resurrection. In the next post we’ll look at the next use that Matthew makes of Zechariah in his passion narrative.

Merry Christmas 1

A few quick things for today:

First, here is a helpful post from Craig Blomberg, a New Testament scholar, responding to the recent Newsweek article on gay marriage. It isn't the most carefully prepared response in dealing with the particulars of the article but it is very good on emphasizing the positive side of the biblical case against homosexual marriage.

Second, here is an article from USA Today with an interview with Michael Horton on where Christ is in Christmas.

Third, this is a brief essay I wrote related to Christmas. I'll post something on Ecclesiastes and the Christmas story tomorrow.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
(Mat. 1:1)

I think it safe to assume that if most of us set out to write the greatest story ever told we would not chose to begin it with a genealogy. If you were to write your story about what you’ve seen and heard that Jesus Christ has done and said then you would not begin it by tracing the generations of Jesus. Yet under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the entire New Testament begins with a genealogy of the birth of our Lord. As Christmas approaches we should take time to examine this passage to understand who Jesus is. Matthew did not write this passage as a mere family history. Instead like all genealogies in Scripture there is a theological purpose.

Matthew is writing a covenantal introduction to his description of the person and work of Jesus Christ. In his gospel, Jesus is specifically the promise of the covenant and so in his birth and appearance he comes as the child of covenant promise. In the whole of Matthew Jesus is presented as the reality that the Old Testament foreshadowed. We see this in the constant refrain in the gospel, “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet.”

So when Matthew shows us that Jesus Christ is the Son of David and the Son of Abraham he has a theological and covenantal purpose. I think we can see this purpose in a few key passages.

When you days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love away from him, as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever. (1 Chr. 17:11-14)

God’s promise here is that the eternal king of the covenant will be the true son of David. While it was a blessed and glorious kingdom for many years, Solomon’s kingdom was not eternal. Jesus is the truer and greater Solomon. All of the promises of the kingdom given in covenant with David are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

And behold, the word of Yahweh came to [Abram]: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Gen. 15:4-5)

God promises Abraham that the covenant promises will come to be fulfilled in his son. Isaac never truly received all the things promised to his father. Instead Jesus is the truer and greater Isaac. The promises of the covenant are completely and perfectly fulfilled in him to and for his people.

So how should we apply Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ? First we need to respond like David and Abraham. David’s response was a confident prayer on the basis of the covenant promises he received (1 Chr. 17:25). The Bible tells us that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Matthew issues a call to receive Jesus just as he is presented to us, as the promise of the covenant. John Calvin wrote, “This, then, is the true knowledge of Christ, if we receive him as he is offered by the Father: namely: clothed with his gospel.”[1] Calvin reminds us that to know Jesus we must know him as he is revealed in Holy Scripture. Do not receive a Jesus of your own making. Receive Jesus this Christmas season as the covenant promise foretold by the prophets and announced by the apostles through the perfect testifying work of the Holy Spirit.

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[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. by John T. McNeil and trans. by Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville: Westminster Press, 1960), 3.2.6, 1:548

Miscellaneous

Well, I had hoped to have the essay on the three-fold office of Christ up over the holiday weekend but unfortunately Verizon has let us down and our internet has had little to no connectivity for over a week now so I wasn't really able to do anything from home. I'll try and post it as soon as we're back up and running there. In the meantime I thought that I would put a few miscellaneous things up.

First, we've been mentioning the Westminster Shorter Catechism regularly in Sunday School (and reading recommendations for that) and our course of study is generally following the order of doctrines in WSC. I hope that people will take the time to think about trying to memorize the Shorter Catechism and even start to catechize children (the PCA has produced two catechisms for young children based on WSC but changed so that younger children can memorize and understand them: First Catechism: Teaching Children Bible Truths and Catechism for Young Children). Scott Clark, professor of church history and historical theology at Westminster Seminary California, has a good essay on why we should memorize the Catechism. His conclusion:

Reformed catechesis, however, is not mere obligation. It is a joy and a gift from our covenant Lord. If we do make catechesis a regular part of the religious life of our children, if we make regular use of the ordinary means of grace (Shorter Catechism 88), if we pray and read with our children, we may expect them to make a credible profession of faith in the congregation. Watching our children make profession and come to the table of the Lord, these are the answers to the prayers of all Reformed parents. May God grant us such graces.

Second, Tim Keller's new book, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith, is now available. I haven't read Reverend Keller's book (and to be honest with all I do have to read and to but and read it isn't on my Amazon wish list at the moment) but it does bring up an interesting passage of Scripture in the parable of the prodigal son. The question that comes up is, "Where do we see Jesus in this parable?" We know that all of his parables reveal something about him but this is an odd one. Some suggest that Jesus is found in the person of the father who receives the prodigal back. Some think that Jesus is seen in the prodigal himself as he humbles himself and identifies with sinners. I think that Jesus is only seen here when we realize that he removes himself from the parable and puts the Pharisees in his place so that we can only see him by their negative example.

Now it is true that Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Heb. 1:1-3) and also true that Jesus humbles himself from his glory to be found in the form of a servant (Phil. 2:1-13). This isn't what Jesus is revealing to us in this parable though. God the Father is the one who is revealed in the person of the father in the parable. Jesus also cannot be seen in the person of the prodigal as the story focuses on his sin and repentance; neither of which are things that Jesus did. So where do we find Jesus in the parable?

I think that the answer is in backing up and looking at the story in context. The beginning of the passage provides this context: "Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.' So he told them this parable" (Luke 15:1-3). Tax collectors and sinners are gathering around Jesus and he receives them. The Pharisees and scribes object to this behavior and question why Jesus would associate himself with sinners. Jesus tells a trio of parables to explain why he welcomes the tax collectors and sinners.

The first parable is that of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7). When a man who has a hundred sheep loses one he immediately leaves the other ninety-nine and goes to seek after the lost. When he finds that lost sheep he brings it back and rejoices with his friends because he has recovered what was lost. It is easy for us to see Jesus as the shepherd in this parable who goes and finds sinners and brings them to repentance and Jesus confirms this reading by saying, "there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." The second parable is that of the lost coin (Luke 15:8-10). A woman who has ten coins loses one and then lights and lamp and sweeps the house diligently until she finds it. After she recovers what was lost she calls her friends and rejoices over that coin that was lost and now is found. Again we can easily see Jesus in the woman who searches diligently for what was lost as he finds sinners and brings them to repentance. Again Jesus confirms this, saying, "there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

This brings us to the third parable, that of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32). A son is lost but no one goes to find him. Eventually the son repents of his sinful life and returns to his father who welcomes him and throws a banquet and a party to celebrate the recovery of his son. But no one in this parable left to find what was lost or diligently sought after what was missing until it was found. What jumps out at us in contrast to the first two parables is the lack of the shepherd or the woman. Instead we find the older brother who not only does not seek out his younger brother but is furious that the father would show grace to the prodigal when he returns! Clearly the older brother in the story reveals the Pharisees and scribes who not only did not seek out the tax collectors and sinners to bring them back to God but grumble against Jesus when he does the same. They despise the tax collectors and sinners and are furious that Jesus would eat with them.

But suppose that the older brother had known that his father longed to restore his younger son and desired to return to fellowship with him. If that older brother desired to please and honor his father then wouldn't he have immediately left all that he had in his father's house and gone to look diligently for his brother until he could restore him to his father? So we are meant to see Jesus in the negative example of the older brother. Jesus knows that the heart of the Father is to rejoice in the repentance of sinners. So he leaves the glory that he has had from all eternity with the Father and humbles himself to the death of the cross so that he can bring those lost sinners to the household of the Father. He is the one who goes and seeks until he finds what is lost and brings it back to the rightful place. He is the good older brother who seeks out the prodigal and brings him back. Ed Clowney (see Chapter 3) helps us to meditate on how the heart of our Savior is revealed to us in this parable:

We do not understand this parable if we forget who told it, and why. Jesus Christ is our older Brother, the firstborn of the Father. He is the seeking Shepherd who goes out to find the lost; he is the Resurrection and the Life who can give life to the dead; he is the Heir of the Father’s house. To him the Father can truly say, “Son, all that I have is yours.” He who is the Son became a Servant that we might be made the sons and daughters of God. This parable is incomplete if we forget that our older brother is not a Pharisee but Jesus. He does not merely welcome us home as the brother did not; he comes to find us in the pigpen, puts his arms around us, and says, “Come home!”

Indeed, if we forget Jesus, we do not grasp the full measure of the Father’s love. The heavenly Father is not permissive toward sin. He is a holy God; the penalty of sin must be paid. The glory of amazing grace is that Jesus can welcome sinners because he died for them. Jesus not only comes to the feast, eating with redeemed publicans and sinners; he spreads the feast, for he calls us to the table of his broken body and shed blood.