St. John Chrysostom

Provided by Steve Daskal

Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics

St. John Chrysostom (“The Golden Tongue”) was born at Antioch in about the year 347 into the family of a military commander, spent his early years studying under the finest philosophers and rhetoricians, and was ordained a deacon in the year 381 by the bishop of Antioch Saint Meletios. In 386 St. John was ordained a priest by the bishop of Antioch, Flavian.

Over time, his fame as a holy preacher grew, and in the year 397 with the demise of Archbishop Nektarios of Constantinople — successor to Sainted Gregory the Theologian — Saint John Chrysostom was summoned from Antioch for to be the new Archbishop of Constantinople.

Exiled in 404 and after a long illness because of the exile, he was transferred to Pitius in Abkhazia where he received the Holy Eucharist, and said, “Glory to God for everything!” falling asleep in the Lord on 14 September 407.

What follows is the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic version of his most famous words.

Orthodox

“If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefor. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.

“And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.

“Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made

Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

“O Death, where is your sting?

“O Hell, where is your victory?

“Christ is risen, and you are overthrown.

“Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen.

“Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice.

“Christ is risen, and life reigns.

“Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.

“For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.”

Catholic

Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward; let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late; for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who comes on the eleventh hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first: yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first; He rewards the one and praises the effort.

Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one:  let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his goodness. Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one fear death, for the death of our Saviour has set us free: He has destroyed it by enduring it; He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom; He has angered it by allowing it to taste of his flesh.

When Isaias foresaw all this, he cried out: “O Hades, you have been angered by encountering Him in the nether world.” Hades is angered because frustrated; it is angered because it has been mocked; it is angered because it has been destroyed; it is angered because it has been reduced to naught; it is angered because it is now captive. It seized a body, and, lo!

it encountered heaven; it seized the visible, and was overcome by the invisible. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and you are abolished. Christ is risen and the demons are cast down. Christ is risen and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen and life is freed. Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead: for Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever.

Amen.

Why Christian Creeds are needed

Provided by Steve Daskal

Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics

The births of the creeds

Sometimes the creeds were specifically written to combat heresies. For example, the Creed of Nicaea (325) and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381) dealt with debates over the divinity of Jesus and concluded that Jesus is divine in the same way as God the Father. The formula of the Council of Chalcedon (451) addressed erroneous views about how Jesus’s divinity and humanity co-existed together and declared that Jesus’s two natures were united in the one incarnate person “without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.”

Some creeds, however, were not tied to any specific heresy or debate. Some creeds emerged simply as discipleship tools, as a summary of basic Christian doctrine for converts to learn, and as a way of condensing Christian faith into its main elements of profession. For example, the Apostles’ Creed, probably written in Rome in the late-second century, is precisely that: a précis of basic Christian beliefs. Indeed, to this day, the Apostles’ Creed is a statement of faith affirmed by many Christian traditions across the world. It is a creed that unites Christians, despite their many differences over other matters of doctrine and practice.

The creeds are useful, then, not only for setting out the faith of the Christian churches in contrast to error, but also for explaining the basics of the faith to new and old believers. Anti-creedalism

It is sad, then, that many churches do not use the creeds in their worship and teaching. In some cases, Christian people view them with indifference or even suspicion. Some people are skeptical of anything that comes to us from church history, because it derives from those weird “Catholic” church fathers from long ago with their strange views on all sorts of things. Some people complain that they prefer their simple Bible over the theological jargon and philosophically freighted word-salads of the ancient creeds. Who needs the Apostles’ Creed when I can just read the apostles myself in the New Testament? Or else, in our age of constant innovation, people can have a penchant to prefer the latest and greatest, the newest ideas and theories, with a bias against anything that is old, antiquarian, and (it is assumed) therefore outdated. Today we are wrestling with AI, transhumanism, cyber-currencies, and digital church. What can Irenaeus or Athanasius possibly tell me about all that?

I have observed this anti-creedalism in many places. Many years ago I would regularly preach for a congregation that was big on sola scriptura: the doctrine that Scripture alone was their authority, not a guy in the Vatican in a pointy white hat, and not any church council or creed. I confess that I used to quietly grin whenever I read their church bulletin, because it always had on it the motto, “No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible.” The irony is that those words are not actually found in the Bible. This Bible-believing church’s sincere desire not to court controversy over creeds led to the construction of their own anti-creedal creed.

I can genuinely understand why people might have a disinterest or disinclination towards creeds. If someone once attended a church where the creeds were known only through mindless repetition with no exposition, then I understand such a person’s aversion to creeds. Or else, if someone has only heard the creeds discussed in relation to technical debates over theological jargon—think homoiousios versus homoousios or Christotokos versus Theotokos— with no one explaining what that is about and what is at stake, then I can understand why a person would think the whole thing is not just over their heads but irrelevant to contemporary issues.

The need for creeds

That said, we cannot be satisfied with saying, “We don’t believe in the words of man found in the creeds, rather, we believe the words of God found in the Holy Bible!” Devout as that might sound, it runs into several problems. First, many groups claim to believe the Bible, including Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostals, and many more. Yet you cannot help but notice that these groups frequently disagree over what the Bible teaches. Some of these differences are inconsequential or secondary; but some of them are positively gargantuan. For instance, whether Jesus was a man who was adopted as God’s Son at his resurrection as a reward for his righteousness, or whether Jesus is the preexisting Son of God who shares the same divine nature as the Father and was enfleshed as a human being—that is a huge difference. The very structure of the gospel is at stake. We need to declare what the Bible teaches on things like “Who is Jesus?” and rule out what beliefs are false or unwholesome.

So here’s the thing. If you believe the Bible, then sooner or later you have to explain what you think the Bible teaches. What does the Bible say about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, salvation, church, and the life to come? When you set out the biblical teaching in some formal sense, such as in a church doctrinal statement, you are creating a creed. You are saying: this is what we believe the Bible teaches about X, Y, and Z. You are declaring: this is the stuff that really matters. You are announcing: this is where the boundaries of the faith need to be drawn. You are staking a claim: this is the hill we will die on and this is what brings us together in one faith.

Creeds in Scripture

The creed skeptics out there may be surprised to discover that creeds are in fact found in the Bible! There are several passages in the Old and New Testaments that have a creedal function.

OT creeds

In Deuteronomy, we find the Shema, Israel’s most concise confession of its faith in one God:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deut 6:4–5, NIV)

These are the words that faithful Jews across the centuries have confessed daily. It was this belief in one God and in God’s oneness that distinguished the Jews from pagans, and that even to this day marks out Judaism as a monotheistic religion. The Shema announces that Israel’s God is the one and only God, the God of creation and covenant, the God of the patriarchs, who rescued the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. The citation of the Shema by faithful Jews has been their way of affirming this story.

NT creeds

No surprise, then, that the Shema was affirmed by Jesus, James, and Paul (see Mark 12:29; 1 Cor 8:6; Jas 2:19). What that means is that Jesus and the first Christians were creedal believers simply by virtue of the fact that they were Jewish and lived within the orbit of Jewish beliefs about God, the covenant, and the future.

Given the Jewish context of early Christianity, it is understandable that the early church developed its own creeds to summarize what it believed about God, Jesus, the gospel, and salvation. Within five to twenty years of Jesus’s death and resurrection, the churches composed short summaries of their basic beliefs that were taught and transmitted to believers all over the Greco-Roman world. What was arguably the most pervasive of early Christian beliefs was that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead:

• “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again” (1 Thess 4:14).
• “[Jesus] died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor 5:15).
• “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rom 4:25).
• “Christ died and returned to life” (Rom 14:9).
• “These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again” (Rev 2:8).

Note how this belief that Jesus was crucified and was raised to life was affirmed in diverse types of material in the New Testament. It is found in liturgical material, in exhortations to congregations, in theological argumentation; it is laid out in hymn-like poetry, and it even appears in New Testament prophecy. This statement that Jesus died and rose was the fulcrum of the church’s confession about who Jesus was and what God did through him.

We find more detailed creedal statements appearing in Paul’s letters. During Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, he wrote a letter to Timothy in Ephesus, where he seems to have quoted what was very probably an early creed:

He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. (1 Tim 3:16)

This Pauline proto-creed gives a basic summary of Jesus’s career from incarnation to exaltation. Each line refers to some key event in Jesus’s earthly mission. It is a concise summary of the story of Jesus and functions as the benchmark of faith. It doesn’t say everything there is to say about Jesus, but it gives the basic outlines into which other beliefs can be seamlessly added to fill out the story.

Another important passage is the famous “Christ hymn” found in Philippians 2:6–11. There are big debates about the origins, genre, and function of this passage. The text might not be an actual hymn; it could simply be poetic prose or a fragment of an early statement of faith that Paul had received from others.

It might be pre-Pauline, or it might be Paul’s own composition. In any case, Philippians 2:6–11 is a majestic description of how Jesus went from divine glory to the death of a slave to exaltation at the right hand of God the Father.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:5–11)

Whether sung, read, or recited, the “Christ hymn” sets forth the story of Jesus’s incarnation, his redemptive death, and his accession to divine glory. Materials like this certainly lend themselves to a creedal function, perhaps even during worship, for this sets out what Christians believe about where Jesus came from, why he died, and why he should be worshipped. Creeds carry biblical traditions

The New Testament contains a large body of instruction that was orally transmitted to the primitive churches by the apostles and their co-workers. In the Pauline churches, this included the story of the gospel (1 Cor 15:3–5), Jesus’s final meal with his followers (1 Cor 11:23–26), and a general body of Christian instructions (Rom 6:17). Indeed, Paul tells the Thessalonians that they should “stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thess 2:15). Similarly, the risen Jesus tells the church in Sardis to remember “what you have received and heard” (Rev 3:3). What Jude calls the “faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” probably refers to the faith taught in the Old Testament Scriptures, the teachings of Jesus, the story of Jesus, and the apostolic instruction in the way of Jesus (Jude 3). The spiritually gifted teachers of the church passed on these teachings which provided the basic contents for the later creeds of the church (see Acts 13:1; Rom 12:7; 1 Cor 12:28–29; Eph 4:11).

I would go so far as to say that Christian teaching was the exposition of a “tradition” (whether in oral or written form), a collection of sayings of Jesus, a group of stories about Jesus, a pattern of messianic interpretation of the Old Testament, and a set of summaries of apostolic instruction. This tradition was not stale dogma but was instead instruction that was interpreted and augmented in light of their experience of God in life and worship. This “tradition” is what largely generated the New Testament.

The Gospels are the traditions of Jesus that were passed on by eyewitnesses, received by early leaders, and written down by the evangelists (see Luke 1:1– 4). The New Testament letters use a lot of traditional materials—hymns, creeds, sayings, stories, vice lists, virtue lists, etc.—to instruct various assemblies in light of the controversies and conflicts they were facing. When leaders in the post-apostolic church, the immediate generations after the apostles, endeavored to transmit their faith to other churches through correspondence, they were trying to summarize what they had learned from the Jewish Scriptures and the disciples of the apostles. They were attempting to lay out the common consensus of the faith as they understood it. We find this in texts like 1 Clement and the Didache, which are part of the body of writings that we call the Apostolic Fathers.

In addition, the creeds that were subsequently written over the coming centuries were largely the attempt to provide concise statements about the faith that had been received in the church. In other words, early traditions shaped the New Testament, and then the New Testament subsequently shaped the developing traditions of the church, traditions that crystallized into the later creeds. Thus, the creeds are really a summary of the New Testament tradition: the text and its history of interpretation in the churches.

I know that as soon as I mention “tradition,” some people will get a little skeptical or perhaps roll their eyes. But tradition is good as it is necessary!

First, you cannot read the New Testament apart from some tradition. Even the pulpit-pounding fundamentalist who claims that the Bible alone guides him still appeals to an established consensus within his own church to validate his exposition of the Bible as a true and accurate account. This tradition, even if not openly acknowledged, is regarded as an authoritative declaration about what the Bible says in that group. Even the most animated and energetic Pentecostal churches have a normal way of doing Sunday morning worship that does not jump directly from the pages of the New Testament. This normal way of doing worship, how they organize everything from songs to sermons, is a type of tradition too.

Second, tradition, like that found in the creeds, is a tool for reading Scripture. We should read Scripture in light of tradition because tradition is what the ancient church learned from reading Scripture. That doesn’t mean we accept any tradition uncritically. Scripture is still the bar by which we test and assess all traditions. However, tradition is the wisdom of our forefathers and foremothers in the faith, and it is to our own detriment if we ignore them. To ignore the creeds, to ignore the ancient faith of the martyrs, saints, and theologians of the church, is to be like a toddler who spurts out, “Okay, boomer,” to their grandmother when their grandmother warns against eating the yellow snow they found on the ground at a dog park.

The creeds of the church are part of a living tradition that attempt to guide our reading of Scripture by setting out in advance the contents and concerns of Scripture itself. The creeds provide a kind of “Idiot’s Guide to Christianity” by briefly laying out the story, unity, coherence, and major themes of the Christian Scriptures. In that sense, a creedal faith is crucial for a biblical faith and vice versa.

Using the creeds today

You and your church need the creeds. And there are some very easy things you can do to get more creedal theology into your church.

1. Learn the creeds

Learn about the major creeds of the faith:

• The Apostles’ Creed
  • The Nicene Creed
  • The Chalcedon Statement
  • The Athanasian Creed

Simply knowing that these creeds exist, where they came from, why they were written, and what they say—that will open up some amazing horizons and vistas for you. You’ll get in contact with the ancient church and learn about the texts and traditions that shaped Christianity at the very beginning.

Conclusion by Steve Daskal

The ancient creeds are very helpful in connecting 21st century believers to the historical two millennia old church, and to each other across ethno-linguistic, liturgical, ecclesiastical, and doctrinal divisions.  They are also helpful in clarifying who is not a Christian in the Biblical and historically understood sense of that term, regardless of what they may consider themselves to believe and be.  Last but not least, they are helpful when we are obedient to the Great Commission [Matt 28:18-20] and seek to share the Gospel with people who know little if anything about the Bible, or even are full of misinformation about the Bible.  Creeds can provide a concise statement in a few paragraphs of what the Bible provides and validates in sixty-six books written over about a millennium and a half.  

The originator of this work is…

Michael F. Bird

LOGOS

Do Muslims and Christians Worship the same God

Provided by Steve Daskal

Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics

First, does the Qur’an describe the same God as the Bible? And second, are some Muslims seeking after the same God as Christians worship? I would suggest that there are three major attributes of God that, while absent from the Qur’an, saturate the whole Bible: namely that God is relational, knowable, and loving.

God in the Bible and the Qur’an

That God is relational is the thrust of the whole biblical story, from the very first pages where God walks in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, to the very last pages where we are promised that, in the age to come, God will dwell with us once again. Time and time again God shows up in person: speaking with Moses face to face (Exodus 33:11), leading His people through the wilderness, throughout the Old Testament, and ultimately stepping into history in the person of Jesus in the New Testament. The Bible also uses highly relational language to describe God: words such as Father, husband, and friend.

For the Qur’an, however, things are quite different. First, the Qur’an keeps Allah (the name of God in Islam) very much at a distance. So while the Qur’an retells the story of the Garden of Eden and talks about heaven, in each case Allah is absent: neither walking with Adam and Eve nor dwelling with his people in Paradise. The Qur’an also stridently denies the incarnation of Jesus (see, e.g., Q. 112:3). So Allah is absent from the beginning of history, absent from the end of history, and absent from the middle of history.

It’s similar with our second theme: that God can be known. The Bible stresses this repeatedly, teaching that God reveals not only His commands, but also His character. Think of Moses at the Burning Bush, where God reveals His own personal name, Yahweh (Exodus 6:2–3). Or recall when Jesus turns to His disciples and says, “Anyone who has seen me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9). The incredible claim at the heart of the Bible’s story is that God is both Lord and King but also One who can be known personally.

The idea that God can be known personally is fully absent in the Qur’an. In Islam, one can know Allah’s commands, but one cannot know Allah himself; he is too lofty, transcendent, and removed. Indeed, in Muslim theology, not even Muhammad encountered God. Instead, Islam teaches that the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad indirectly through an angel. In Christian Mission and Islamic Da’wah, Muslim scholar Isma’il al Faruqi distinguishes Islam from Christianity by noting that “Allah does not reveal Himself to anyone in any way. Allah reveals only his will.”

What of our third characteristic, love? The Bible is clear that God doesn’t simply act lovingly; He is love (1 John 4:16). Because God is Father, Son, and Spirit, then at the heart of God lies a loving relationship. Even before God made anything, He was still a God of love.

Conversely, the Qur’an does not ever teach that Allah is love. Indeed, of the mere 42 times that the Qur’an mentions Allah and love, the majority (55%) of these are negative instances—the Qur’an stating whom Allah doesn’t love. (See Q. 2:190, 205, 276; 3:32, 57, 140; 4:36, 107, 148; 5:64, 87; 6:141; 7:31, 55; 8:58; 16:23; 22:38; 28:76-77; 30:45; 31:18; 42:40; 57:23.) The rest (45%) are conditional instances of the reader being told the kind of things (piety, fighting in Jihad, etc.) that, if done and if you are fortunate, might attract God’s love. (See Q. 2:195, 222 [twice]; 3:31, 76, 134, 146, 148, 159; 5:13, 42, 54, 93; 9:4, 7, 108; 49:9; 60:8; 61:4.) As Pakistani scholar Daud Rahbar summarizes in his book God of Justice: A Study in the Ethical Doctrine of the Qur’an: “There is not a single verse in the Qur’an that speaks of God’s unconditional love for mankind . . . [Its verses] do not say that God loves all men.”

Muslims and Jesus

The differences are profound and in so short a space we have only scratched the surface. But we’ve seen enough, I hope, to show that the Qur’an has a thoroughly different view of God. But what of individual Muslims: are some, despite the Qur’an, seeking the God of the Bible? I think so.

Over the years, I’ve had many conversations with Muslims who have said things like “I believe in a God of love!” And when they say this, I like to gently reply: “Well done! But, with respect, you’ve described to me the God of the Bible, not the God of the Qur’an.” Like the Athenians who had no idea who their “Unknown God” was until Paul told them (Acts 17:23), so many Muslims are earnestly seeking a God who is relational, a God who can be known, a God who is love. Let’s gently, winsomely, and persuasively tell them about the God who has revealed that He is all of those things, most wonderfully in Jesus. (For a beautiful story of one such Muslim, see Nabeel Qureshi, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity.)

The originator of this work is…

Andy Bannister, Ph.D.

C.S. Lewis Institute

Can We Trust the Gospels

Provided by Steve Daskal

Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics

John’s Gospel opens, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). It is subsequently explained that this Word “became flesh” (1:14) and is in fact “Jesus Christ” (1:17). Here “the Word,” which in Greek philosophy could be an abstract creative principle and in Jewish language could be a way of speaking of God himself, is said to be something that has always existed, is God, and yet is distinct from God. All this comes within a Jewish conceptual framework where there is only one God. The Word comes to earth and does what words do—they communicate. The Word tells us who God is.

This presentation of Jesus as the one who tells us who God is can be found in the Synoptic Gospels too. They all present the thought that God sent his Son to show us who God is and to give up his life to save people (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; Luke 19:10; 22:20). Accepting the Gospels’ own presentation of Jesus actually provides the best single explanation for a whole range of phenomena in the Gospels that would otherwise require complicated explanations.

If the presentation of Jesus in the Gospels is wrong, one faces many intellectual hurdles to explain why so many historical details are right or plausible. One has to explain how the various layers of textual material arose in the Gospels, all of which display signs of abundant familiarity with the time of Jesus and show the features one would expect from the earliest Jewish layers of tradition. One needs to explain the origin of the parables, the original teaching, and the range of cases where one Gospel is most simply explained by assuming the truth of another. One also has to explain how the movement of Jesus’s followers took off numerically in a manner for which historians cannot agree on an explanation.

I do not want to suggest for a moment that all this cannot be explained away. Humans are ingenious, and therefore, of course, they can explain away anything. In fact, a significant section of professional biblical studies has been relatively successful in providing explanations for each of the isolated phenomena mentioned in this book. However, that could be more an indication of high levels of human ingenuity than of the correctness of these explanations.

Can We Trust the Gospels?, I would argue that it is rational to do so. Trusting both the message and the history of the Gospels provides a satisfying choice both intellectually and in wider ways. Trusting the Gospels has explanatory power historically and literarily, but if the Gospels’ presentation is correct in characterizing humans as opposed to God and sinful, the Gospels also provide the answer to these problems in the record of the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of the remarkable person Jesus Christ.

It is noteworthy that in addition to the patterns dealt with so far, the record of Jesus within the Gospels also forms a pattern with the Old Testament—all of which was clearly composed before Jesus lived on earth. Throughout history, Christians have read the Old Testament as prefiguring Jesus Christ in ways that would take many other books for us to explore.

The Old Testament begins with the story of a perfect creation spoiled by human sin, and the consequent death penalty on humans and expulsion from God’s presence. Death is the punishment for sin, blood is sacred, sacrifice is needed, and it is promised that a future “seed” (i.e., offspring) will deliver. Abraham, the man God specially privileges, has a special son against all expectation and is told to offer him as a sacrifice, but this is called off at the last moment and the son lives on, being replaced by a ram. Abraham’s descendants spend time oppressed in Egypt and are rescued from there, but not before they have sacrificed lambs and put their blood on their doorposts to protect them from God’s judgment. Out of Egypt they experience God’s presence in their midst in a special tent, a presence to which all their access comes through sacrifice. Within the Promised Land they are given King David, who is promised a “seed” (2 Samuel 7:12 KJV) who will always be on his throne. A culture in which there is only one God speaks boldly through its prophets of a “mighty God” being born (Isaiah 9:6; compare 10:21), of God being pierced and mourned for (Zechariah 12:10), of One spoken of in terms only ever applied to God (Isaiah 52:13) as dying and yet thereafter living (Isaiah 53:11–12).

These things and many others map well onto the life, sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus, not just in the eyes of devoted believers, but also in the eyes of those skeptical of the Gospels’ historicity, who use the high level of correspondence between the story of Jesus and the Old Testament to argue that much of the Gospels’ narrative of Jesus was invented on the basis of the Old Testament. For those unfamiliar with the Old Testament or the Gospels, the above list of correspondences may seem like dreamy thinking, but in fact the existence of large-scale correlation between the Gospels’ records of Jesus and the Old Testament is something on which a wide range of scholars agree, even while they differ on many specific points of interpretation.

I want, therefore, to take this correspondence as a given. Clearly one option is to use this correspondence as a ground to suggest that early Christians invented the Gospel stories on the basis of the Old Testament. The problem is that this model lacks the power to explain many patterns we have already considered, including undesigned coincidences, the high levels of knowledge of local culture, the existence of parables, the genius of Jesus’s teaching, the careful differentiation between speech and narrative, and more. Either Jesus intended to die, in which case he probably already saw himself in the Old Testament narrative, or his death was a miscalculation, in which case any loyal followers wanting to make a successful message out of his death were extremely lucky to have such preexisting material in the Old Testament ready to be adapted into a message of a divine Savior rescuing the world through a sacrificial death from which he somehow came back.

A far easier position is to make a single supposition, that all of history hangs on Jesus. It is a single and simple supposition, but I am not claiming that it is a small one. It does have huge explanatory power as it accounts for the signs in the Gospels that would normally be taken as signs of reliability, for the genius of Jesus’s character and teaching, for the evidence for the resurrection, and for the correspondence of Jesus’s life with the Old Testament. Of course, if Jesus is the Word who is coeternal with God, and the one who has come to save the world, then the question of the trustworthiness of the Gospels is not a mere issue of historical interest. If the picture of Jesus in the Gospels is basically true, it logically demands that we give up possession of our lives to serve Jesus Christ, who said repeatedly in every Gospel, “Follow me.”

The originator of this work is…

Peter Williams

The Stone Was Rolled Away

Provided by Steve Daskal

Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics

Here is the historical record:

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Matthew 28:1-6 Now, someone, quite appropriately, might say:

“Wait a second, it doesn’t logically flow that ‘if Jesus rose from the dead, then the stone was rolled away.’ If Jesus was in His resurrected body, then, as we see later with the disciples, He passed through walls. He could have passed through the stone or the walls of the tomb. He didn’t need the angel to roll the stone away so He could get out.”

This is actually correct in asserting that Jesus could have left the tomb by passing through the rock. In fact, it appears as if He did! Look at the account again. The angel rolled back the stone, sat on it, and told the women that Jesus was not there for He had risen. In the flow of these events, it seems most likely that Jesus had already left the tomb before the stone was rolled away. It would be a stretch to think that the women approached the tomb, the earthquake shook the ground, an angel descended, rolled away the tomb, so that Jesus, who was waiting inside, could then steal away quickly without the women seeing Him, and then the angel tells the women that Jesus was not there and had risen. The text would lead us to believe that Jesus had already risen and departed the tomb.

And, though some correctly say that the text in John does not say that Jesus passed through the walls, and argue against it, the passage leads us to think He did, in some form or other:

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” John 20:19

 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” John 20:26

Now, of course, this could be a “materialization” rather than a “passing through the walls” but I would argue that is splitting hairs. John goes to the trouble to tell us, both times, that the “doors were locked” and “although” they were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. Jesus miraculously entered the room. Just as Jesus walked on the water and His body defied the normal physical properties of specific gravity, He apparently was not bound by the physical properties of a locked room, nor was He bound by the physical properties of the tomb or the stone.

Okay, so why, then, was the stone rolled away if it wasn’t to allow Jesus to escape?

First of all, and most plainly, the text tells us that it was so the women could “Come, see the place where He lay.” This would be impossible if the stone were still sealed against the tomb. But the seal was broken and the stone was rolled away so that they could see for themselves. And it wasn’t just for the women, it was also for the disciples to see, and believe.

This leads us to the second, and most important reason, and that is that it is consistent with God’s nature to do things this way. Our Christian faith is not based upon myth or legend or “spiritually discerned” truth claims about ethereal things. Our faith has, from the beginning and to the end, been based upon reality born out in the “warp and woof” of time, as Francis Schafer was want to say. It is somehow in the nature of God that He chooses to affirm to us who He is and that His truth claims are real by showing us in the tangible elements of reality. The plagues of Egypt were real. The pillar of fire was real. The tablets of stone were real. Fire actually came down out of heaven on Mt. Carmel. Jesus was born a real baby. He healed real people. He touched real lepers. He was scourged and crucified and His physical body was wrapped and laid in a real tomb. And, now, He had risen from the dead and the tomb was empty. The stone was rolled away so that they could  “Come, see the place where He lay” with their own eyes.

Don’t let anyone tell you that your faith in Christ is a leap in the dark or some metaphysical belief not rooted in reality. God has, from the beginning, married His truth claims with real reality… over and over again.

And lastly, the tomb was empty as a testimony to those who do not believe. Though the Scripture does not detail this, you can be sure that the chief priests and the Pharisees came to inspect the tomb. And the tomb sat there empty for whomever wished to come and lay eyes upon its reality.

As we will deal with later, the empty tomb remains the key frustrating evidence for those who desire to refute the resurrection of Christ. Sir Norman Anderson, considered one of the foremost legal minds ever, after a lifetime of legally analyzing the evidence, concluded that all rational theories of the resurrection are dashed in vain against a rock called the empty tomb. This solid rock of evidence would not exist unless the stone had been rolled away for all to peer inside and see.

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Conclusion by Steve Daskal

Of course, Jesus’ body was resurrected with His unique, wholly man, wholly God Spirit, and that risen body rose from the grave, just as we are promised will happen at the Resurrection in I Thess. 4:13-18. The stone was rolled back for US — for Christ’s church — that the earliest disciples could see and believe, and write it down for us, so that we might be blessed by believing without seeing [John 20:24-29].

Del Tackett

Truth Encounter Ministries

Jesus Christ, ‘Full of Grace and Truth’

Provided by Steve Daskal

Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics

In describing the coming of Christ, John says, ‘The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.’  In Jesus Christ, all the attributes of God are see; veiled, but yet verily there.  You have only to read the gospels, and to look with willing eyes, and you shall behold in Christ all that can possibly be seen of God.  It is veiled in human flesh, as it must be; for the glory of God is not to be seen by us absolutely.  It is toned down to these dim eyes of ours; but the Godhead is there, the perfect Godhead in union with the perfect manhood of Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. 

The two divine things which are more clearly seen in Jesus than aught else are ‘grace and truth.’ Christ did not simply come to tell us about grace, but actually to bring us grace.  He is not merely full of the news of grace and truth, but of grace and truth themselves.  Others had been messengers of gracious tidings, but he came to bring grace.  Others teach us truth, but Jesus is the truth.  He is that grace and truth whereof others spoke.  Jesus is not merely a teacher, an exhorter, a worker of grace and truth; but these heavenly things are in him, and he is full of them.

Christ has brought us grace in rivers and truth in streams; and the two rivers unite in the one fullness of grace and truth.  That is to say, the grace is truthful grace; not grace in fiction, or in fancy, not grace to be hoped for or to be dreamed of, but grace every atom of which is fact; redemption which does redeem, pardon which does blot out sin, renewal which actually regenerates, salvation which completely saves.  We have not in Christ the mere shadows of blessings, which charm the eye, yet cheat the soul; but real, substantial favors from God who cannot lie. 

Christ has come to bring us grace and truth; that is to say, it is not the kind of truth which censures, condemns, and punishes; it is gracious truth, truth steeped in love, truth saturated with mercy.  The truth which Jesus brings to his people comes from the mercy seat.  There is grace to God’s people in everything that falls from the lips of Jesus Christ.  His lips are like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh.  Myrrh in itself is bitter, but such is the grace of our Lord Jesus that his lips impart sweetness to it.  See how grace and truth thus blend, and qualify each other.  The grace is all true, and the truth is all gracious.  This is a wonderful compound made according to the art of the divine apothecary; where else is grace so true, or truth so gracious? 

Furthermore, grace and truth are blessedly balanced in Christ.  He is full of grace; but, then, he has not neglected that other quality which is somewhat sterner, namely, that of truth.  I have known many people in this world who have been very loving and affectionate, but then they have not been faithful; on the other hand I have known men who were sternly honest and truthful, but they have not been gentle and kind; but, in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no defect either way.  He is full of grace which doth invite the publican and the sinner to himself; but he is full of truth which doth repel the hypocrite and Pharisee. He does not hide from man a truth however terrible it may be, but he plainly declares the wrath of god against all unrighteousness.  But when he has spoken terrible truth, he has uttered it in such a gracious and tender manner, with so many tears of compassion for the ignorant and those that are out of the way, that you are as much won by his grace as you are convinced by his truth.  Our Lord’s ministry is not truth alone, nor grace alone; but it is a balanced, well ordered system of grace and truth.  The Lord himself is both King of righteousness and King of peace.  He does not even save unjustly, nor does he proclaim truth unlovingly.  Grace and truth are equally conspicuous in him. 

But these qualities are also in our Lord to the full.  He is ‘full of grace.’ Who could be more so?  In the person of Jesus Christ, the immeasurable grace of God is treasured up.  God has done for us, by Jesus Christ, exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask, or even think.  It is not possible for our imagination to conceive of anyone more gracious than God in Christ Jesus; and there is an equal fullness of truth about our Lord.  He himself, as he comes to us as the revelation and manifestation of God, declares to us, not some truth, but all truth.  All of God is in Christ; and all of God means all that is true, and all that is right, and all that is faithful, and all that is just, all that is according to righteousness and holiness.  There is no truth hidden from us, that might have alarmed us, nor anything that might have shaken our confidence in Christ; not, on the other hand, is any truth kept back which might have increased our steadfastness.  He said to his disciples, concerning the glories of his Father’s house above, ‘If it were not so, I would have told you.’ Ask not, with Pilate, ‘What is truth?’ but behold it in God’s dear Son.  All truth and all grace dwell in Christ in all their fullness beyond conception, and the two lie in each other’s bosoms for ever, to bless us with boundless, endless joy and glory. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ is also full of grace and truth in this sense, that he truthfully deals with matters of fact relating to our salvation.  I know the notion of the world is that the salvation of Christ is a pretty dream, a fine piece of sentiment; but there is nothing dreamy about it:  it is no fiction; it is fact upon fact.  The Lord Jesus Christ does not gloss over or conceal the condition of man in order to secure his salvation.  He finds man condemned, and condemned in the very worst sense, condemned for a capital offense; and as man’s substitute, he endures the capital penalty, and dies in the sinner’s stead.  The Lord Jesus views the sinner as depraved, yea, as dead in trespasses and sins, and he quickens him by his own resurrection life.  He does not wink at the result of the Fall, and at the guilt of actual sin; but he comes to the dead sinner, and gives him life; he touches the diseased heart, and heals it. 

To me, the gospel is a wonderful embodiment of omnipotent wisdom and truth.  If the gospel had said to man, ‘The law of God is certainly righteous, but it is too stern, too exacting, and therefore God will wink at many sins, and make provision for salvation by omitting to punish much of human guilt,’ we should always have been in jeopardy.  If God could be unjust to save us, he could also be changeable, and cast us away.  If there was anything rotten in the God-made structure of our salvation, we should fear that it would fail us at the last.  But the building is secure, and the foundation is sure, for the Lord has excavated down to the solid rock.  He has taken away all sentiment and sham, and his salvation is real and substantial throughout.  It is a glorious salvation of grace and truth, in which God takes the sinner as he is, and deals with him as he is; yea, and deals with the sinner as God is, on the principles of true righteousness; and yet saves him, because the Lord deals with him in the way of grace, and that grace encourages a great many hopes, and those hopes are all realized, for they are based upon God’s truth. 

Conclusion by Steve Daskal

We are all rebels and sons of rebels, not just rebels against a lawful human ruler, but against God Himself, who is not only our lawful ruler but our Creator.  Our “natural” selfishness, self-centeredness, and pride make us rebels against His Majesty from infancy; the only possible remedy must be provided by Him, because only He is free of any taint of rebellion.  It would be absurd for one rebel to offer to die on behalf of another rebel equally deserving of death.  But for the King of King’s perfectly loyal and obedient Son to die on behalf of the rebels, and the King accepting that one perfect sacrifice for all sinful rebels — this is the essence of God’s grace.

The originator of this work is…

Charles H. Spurgeon

The Easter Story

Provided by Steve Daskal

Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics

Charles Spurgeon once encouraged his students to read commentaries, noting that the Holy Spirit is not an exclusive or individual gift to any one believer. Since we know that the Holy Spirit teaches us, we can know that the Holy Spirit teaches others. And the Holy Spirit has been teaching the church throughout the corridors of time. We stand downstream from two millennia of gifted teachers and teaching. This study Bible aims to introduce readers today to these teachers from the past.

Read below selections from the four Gospels along with commentary notes from giants of the faith such as John Calvin, Martin Luther, St. Augustine, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Spurgeon. Reflect on the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus with insight offered into these events by these gifted teachers from church history.

And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. ² And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” ³ And the chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴ And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” ⁵ But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. —Mark 15:1-5

Great is the contrast between the second Adam and the first! Our first father Adam was guilty, and yet tried to excuse himself. The second Adam was guiltless, and yet made no defense at all. —J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Mark

Think what a sight was here, the eternal Son of God in human nature, the Lord of life and glory, the Prince of the kings of the earth, standing before a heathen governor! He stood before the governor to receive the sentence of condemnation on himself so that, sin being condemned in his flesh, the whole righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in them. He stood here, that they might stand before God, and at the throne of his grace with boldness and intrepidity. —John Gill, Exposition of the Bible

Luke 23:18-24

¹⁸ But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”— ¹⁹ a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. ²⁰ Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, ²¹ but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” ²² A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” ²³ But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed.²⁴ So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.—Luke 23:18-24 What kind of people crucified the Lord of glory! Those that violently demand the death of an innocent man fittingly seek the release of a murderer. Wickedness has such laws as to hate innocence and love guilt. The interpretation of the name gives the likeness of the image, because Barabbas means “son of the father.” He belongs to those to whom it is said, “You are of your father the devil.” They were about to choose the antichrist as son of their father, rather than the Son of God. —Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke

John 19:1-3

¹ Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. ² And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. ³ They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. —John 19:1-3

We see Christ’s complete and perfect substitution for sinners. He, the innocent sinbearer, wore the crown of thorns, that we, the guilty, might wear a crown of glory. Vast is the contrast there will be between the crown of glory that Christ will wear at his second advent and the crown of thorns he wore at this first coming. It was, moreover, a striking symbol of the consequences of the fall being laid on the head of our divine substitute. In Leviticus it is written that “Aaron shall lay his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgression in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat” (Lev. 16:21). —J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of John, vol. 3

Jesus answered to the type of Abraham’s ram that was caught in the thicket, and so offered up instead of Isaac (Gen. 22:13). Thorns signify afflictions (2 Chron. 33:11). These Christ put into a crown, so much did he alter the property of them to those that are his, giving them cause to glory in tribulation and making it to work for them a weight of glory. —Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible

John 19:16-22

¹⁶ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, ¹⁷ and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸ There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. ¹⁹ Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰ Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. ²¹ So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” ²² Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”—John 19:16-22

This Mount Calvary was that mountain in the land of Moriah (and in the land of Moriah it certainly was, for so the country about Jerusalem was called) on which Isaac was to be offered, and the ram was offered instead of him, and then Abraham had an eye to this day of Christ, when he called the place Jehovah-jireh—“the Lord will provide,” expecting that so it would be seen in the mount of the Lord. —Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible

As if the severity of the punishment had not been sufficient of itself, Christ is hanged in the midst between two robbers, as if he not only had deserved to be classed with other robbers, but had been the most wicked and the most detestable of them all. —John Calvin, Commentary on John

Even the cross itself, if you consider it well, was a judgment seat, for the Judge being set up in the middle, one thief who believed was delivered, the other who reviled was condemned. Already he signified what he is to do with the quick and the dead: some he will set on his right hand and others on his left. That thief was like those that shall be on the left hand, the other like those that shall be on the right. He was undergoing judgment, and he threatened judgment. —Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, no. 31

What a marvelous providence it was that moved Pilate’s pen! The representative of the Roman emperor was little likely to concede kingship to any man, yet he deliberately wrote, THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS, and nothing would induce him to alter what he had written. Even on his cross Christ was proclaimed King in the sacerdotal Hebrew, the classical Greek, and the common Latin, so that everybody in the crowd could read the inscription. —Charles Spurgeon, The Gospel of the Kingdom

Luke 23:34

³⁴ And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.—Luke 23:34

How striking is this passage! While they are actually nailing Jesus to the cross, he seems to feel the injury they did to their own souls more than the wounds they gave him and, as it were, to forget his own anguish out of a concern for their own salvation. And how eminently was his prayer heard! It procured forgiveness for all that were penitent and a suspension of vengeance even for the impenitent. —John Wesley, Wesley’s Explanatory Notes

Matthew 27:39-42

³⁹ And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹ So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ⁴² “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. —Matthew 27:39-42 In order to prove himself to be the Son of God, it was necessary that Jesus should hang on the cross. And now those wicked men affirm that the Redeemer will not be recognized as the Son of God unless he come down from the cross and thus disobey the command of his Father and, leaving incomplete the expiation of sins, divest himself of the office that God had assigned to him. But let us learn from it to confirm our faith by considering that the Son of God determined to remain nailed to the cross for the sake of our salvation until he had endured most cruel torments of the flesh, and dreadful anguish of soul, and even death itself. —John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Gospels

Such words pierced his very heart, hurting him more than all his other sufferings. Still, he suffered all this with patience. He wept over his enemies, because they would have no part in the great benefit to be derived from his death—yea, he prayed for their sin. And in the face of this we are ready to snarl and growl over the least trifle when asked to yield even a little to our neighbor. Here you see how far we are still from Christ. It is indeed necessary to suffer with Christ if we would enter with him into glory. —Martin Luther, “Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 1523”

The Lord, knowing the snares of his adversaries, remained on the cross that he may destroy the devil. —Jerome, Commentary on Matthew

Luke 23:44-47

⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵ while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

⁴⁷ Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”—Luke 23:44-47 Creation itself bewailed its Lord, for the sun was darkened, the rocks were rent, and the very temple assumed the garb of mourners, for its veil was rent from the top to the bottom. And this is what God signified to us by the voice of Isaiah, saying, “I will clothe the heaven with darkness, and wrap it around with sackcloth” (50:3). —Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, sermons 154–156 [fragments]

The veil that was “torn in two from the top to the bottom” denoted three things. First, that the rending of Christ’s body was the means of bringing us nigh to God; next, that the mysteries that had hitherto been hid in God were now fully revealed; and lastly, that a new way of access to God was now opened for all people. —Charles Simeon, Horae Homileticae, vol. 11

It was not in reference to himself alone that Christ committed his soul to the Father, but that he included, as it were, in one bundle all the souls of those who believe in him, that they may be preserved along with his own, and not only so, but by this prayer he obtained authority to save all souls, so that not only does the heavenly Father, for his sake, deign to take them into his custody, but, giving up the authority into his hands, commits them to him to be protected. —John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Gospels

The death of Christ gives us the best discovery of ourselves, in what condition we were, in that nothing could help us but that, and the most clear discovery of the dreadful nature of our sins. For if sin be so dreadful a thing as to wring the heart of the Son of God, how shall a poor wretched sinner be able to bear it? —John Bunyan, Mr. John Bunyan’s Dying Sayings

To see him who is the wisdom of God and the power of God, always beloved of the Father, to see him, I say, fear, and tremble, and bow, and sweat, and pray, and die, to see him lifted up upon the cross, the earth trembling under him, as if unable to bear his weight, and the heavens darkened over him, as if shut against his cry, and himself hanging between both, as if refused by both, and all this because our sins did meet upon him—this of all things does most abundantly manifest the severity of God’s vindictive justice. —John Owen, Communion with God

Oh, beloved, when the soul is brought as low as hell almost, then this consideration will be sweet, that Christ was forsaken as a surety for me; Christ overcame sin, death, God’s wrath, and all for me; in him I triumph over all these. What welcome news is this to a distressed sinner! Whenever your soul is truly humbled in the sense of sin, look not at sin in your conscience (your conscience is a bed for another to lodge in) but at Christ. If you be a brokenhearted sinner, see your sins in Christ your Savior taken away. —Richard Sibbes, Christ’s Suffering for Man’s Sins

O the divine mystery of that cross, on which weakness hangs, might is free, vices are nailed, and triumphal trophies raised. —Ambrose, “Three Books of St. Ambrose on the Holy Spirit”

Matthew 27:57-61

⁵⁷ When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹ And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud ⁶⁰ and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹ Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.—Matthew 27:57-61

Christ was laid in a disciple’s grave. He suffered that death that belonged to us, and he was laid in our grave. He entered into the state of death in our stead; he went down into that deep pit where we were to have gone. He had no sin of his own, so he had no death of his own; it was our sin and our grave, and our tomb hewed out in a rock. —Jonathan Edwards, Notes on the Bible)

Luke 23:54-56

⁵⁴ It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. ⁵⁵ The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. ⁵⁶ Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.—Luke 23:54-56

We see in these women an example of godliness and diligent love, for as they had followed the Lord in his lifetime, so they do not forsake him when he is dead. They run and watch with a pious thoughtfulness, having an earnest care to anoint his body. This is an example we ought to follow, for we may yet bestow these pious attentions on Christ, but through his members, because after this he is no more with us in his body. —Ulrich Zwingli, On the Passion and Death of Christ

Matthew 28:1-6

¹ Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. ⁴ And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. ⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” —Matthew 28:1-6

In the time of the old covenant the Sabbath was highly revered. Now under the gospel the Sabbath has been recast, now viewed as the Lord’s resurrection day. The Sabbath formerly had pertained to the pedagogy and rudiments of the law. When the great Master himself came and fulfilled them all for us, all that had prefigured his coming was transformed. The old Sabbath was like a candle lit in the night before the rising and appearing of the sun. —Athanasius, Homilies

That old Sabbath was not instituted till after the giving the promise of Christ (Gen. 3:15), and the rest of God on that seventh day was chiefly in having perfected the new creation in Christ, that also was the sabbatical rest of Adam. When therefore that was accomplished which was then promised, namely, the bruising of the serpent’s head by the resurrection of Christ, and that was fulfilled which was typified and represented in the old Sabbath, namely, the finishing of a new creation, the Sabbath could not but justly be transferred to that day on which these things were done. — John Lightfoot, Commentary on Matthew

This earthquake was a sign of triumph, or token of victory, given by Christ to the whole world, that he had overcome death in its own dominions and, like a conqueror, lifted up his head above all his enemies. So when the Lord fought from heaven for his people and gave them a glorious, though but temporal deliverance, see how the prophetess drives on the triumph in that rhetorical song (Judg. 5:4–5). Our Lord Jesus went out of the grave in like manner and marched out of that bloody field with a pomp and majesty becoming so great a conqueror. —John Flavel, The Resurrection of Christ

John 20:12-18

¹² And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. —John 20:12-18

The first appearance of the risen Lord was given to Mary for no other reason than that she needed him first and needed him most. And what more appropriate beginning could have been set for his ministry of glory than this very act? Nothing could better convince us that in his exalted state he retains for us the same tender sympathy, the same individual affection as he showed during the days of his flesh. — Geerhardus Vos, Grace and Glory

Let us cling firmly to the resurrection of Christ as one of the pillars of the gospel. It ought to produce in our minds a settled conviction of the truth of Christianity. Our faith does not depend merely on a set of texts and doctrines. It is founded on a mighty historical fact that the skeptic has never been able to overturn. It ought to assure us of the certainty of the resurrection of our own bodies after death. If our Master has risen from the grave, we need not doubt that his disciples shall rise again at the last day. —J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

The originator of this work is…

Crossway

Jesus’ Last Week Leading Up to Passover

Provided by Steve Daskal

Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics

Introduction

More than once, Jesus told his disciples and others around him, “My time has not yet come” (John 2:4, John 7:6, 8), and he often foreshadowed his death: “The Son of Man came … to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45 ). Naturally, this begs the question of when Jesus’ time actually would come, what it would entail, and what it would mean. The following article takes a chronological and fact-based day-by-day look at the last week of Jesus’ life, including the Passover, taken from the accounts of the four Gospels. In Jesus’ last week of life, he fulfilled his mission to seek and save the lost, and ultimately, he became the atoning sacrifice for humanity—once and for all.

In Jesus’ last week before his brutal death, He shared words of hope and life.

Saturday [Nisan 8]

A week before his crucifixion, Jesus approached Jerusalem, arriving in Bethany six days before the Passover [Shabbat/Saturday] in the day light.

Sunday [Nisan 9]

He would have dinner in the evening when night fell [Sunday]. After this, a great crowd came to Bethany to see Jesus. In Jesus’ last week before his brutal death, he shared words of hope and life.

Monday [Nisan 10]

The next day [John 12:12], Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem, known as his “triumphal entry,” fulfilling the prophecy from Zechariah 9:9. The people praised him despite his humble entrance. This entry into Jerusalem signified the beginning of the end. Jesus visited the Temple and then returned to Bethany. It was Nisan 10 when the Passover lambs were selected. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on this day was how he presented himself as Israel’s Paschal lamb who would soon take away the sins of the world.

Tuesday [Nisan 11]

On the way from Bethany to Jerusalem, Jesus cursed the fig tree, warning of the consequences of spiritual fruitlessness (Matthew 21:19). He challenged the Temple practice of selling on the premises—a warning against dishonest and disingenuous spiritual practices. Some of the religious leaders began to plot ways to kill him, so that evening, Jesus left Jerusalem, presumably returning to Bethany.

As the days leading up to his crucifixion and the Passover drew near, Jesus reminded his followers and the world that the way of faith looks different than the way of the world.

Wednesday [Nisan 12]

He was anointed at Simon the leper’s house by a woman who Jesus said was “prepar[ing] me for burial” (Matthew 26:12). The meal was prepared by Martha and Mary, Lazarus’ sisters [John12:2-3]. It was two days before Passover [Mark 14:1].

On the way to Jerusalem, the disciples saw the withered fig tree, and Jesus taught them the importance of their faith (Matthew 21:21)—an especially timely lesson, as he was going to leave them. Upon arriving at the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus’ authority was questioned by the religious leaders. Still, that afternoon, Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives. He taught in parables and spoke about the signs of the end of the age. He told of destruction, wars, and persecution to come, but also shared the hope of his return (Matthew 24:6). His disciples probably had little idea what he was speaking of, but he instructed them to be on their guard.

Also on that day, Jesus predicted that in two days he would be crucified at the time of the Passover. Accordingly, Judas planned the betrayal of Jesus with the religious leaders. The tension was rising, and Jesus knew that his time of death was near, and he communicated this to his disciples despite their lack of understanding, yet he continued to teach and serve.

Thursday [Nisan 13]

Jesus and his disciples prepared the Passover lamb.

Friday [Nisan 14]

Jesus and the Apostles had their seder meal together. While it was Thursday evening by modern Western timekeeping, because evening follows morning, by traditional Jewish timekeeping, it was actually Friday evening, because evening precedes morning.  Thus, the Last Supper was a Passover Seder, and not a regular meal on “Preparation Day.” Jesus shared heartfelt words with them and interceded on their behalf. After the meal, they arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus suffered in agony awaiting what was to come, but his closest disciples kept falling asleep! Even in the midst of his agony, hurt, and betrayal, Jesus knew that what he would accomplish on the cross would far outweigh his present suffering.

Later that night, Jesus was betrayed and arrested. He was tried by Annas, then Caiaphas, and then other religious leaders. Jesus was humiliated, degraded, and made into a laughing stock just before he experienced the worst pain imaginable on the cross— separation from God.

Early in the morning, Jesus was tried by the Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod Antipas, and then Pilate again. He was tortured and beaten. He was led to the cross at 9:00 a.m, died at 3:00 p.m., and was buried later that day. The sky went dark, and the Temple curtain was torn in two.

Jesus died at the time when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed, fulfilling the Hebrew Scriptures. He endured the weight of all of humanity’s sin, the weight of cruelty, and the weight of separation from God.

Saturday

Jesus’ body was in the tomb during the Sabbath, and the Pharisees employed guards to keep watch over the tomb.

Sunday

On Sunday, Jesus was seen resurrected from the dead! Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb only to find that Jesus was not there. An angel told them that he had risen! His was the first of many resurrections to come, in which it was a type of firstfruits offering, which were made the day after the Sabbath.

Conclusion

Jesus knew what awaited him as the Passover neared, yet he approached and endured the cross with confidence and grace. The last week of his life simultaneously shows his humanity and his divinity. Jesus’ last days led to the climax of God’s plan of redemption for humanity. From his entry into Jerusalem to his resurrection, every day of Jesus’ last week was filled with meaning, intention, and purpose. A chronological look at Jesus’ last days gives us a glance into the deep suffering yet incredible mercy of our God.

Note: This work was edited by CMAA staff.

The originator of this work is…

Jews for Jesus

Conformed to His Image

Provided by Steve Daskal

Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 

[Romans 8:29 (ESV)].

It’s not uncommon for couples who have been married for a long time to be asked if they are brother and sister because they have taken on so many of each other’s characteristics.  To some extent, this makes sense, doesn’t it?  We become like the company we keep.  

The same should be true for us in our walk with Christ.

God’s purpose for your life is to conform you to the likeness of His Son.  Think about that:  consider Jesus’ human perfections, and realize that you get to become like Him!  God is deeply committed to this: it is a work He promises to bring “to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).  What is God doing today?  We can summarize it simply as this”  He is making us more like Christ. 

Many of us are familiar with the guarantee of Romans 8:28 that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” But the verse that follows tells us what the “good” is that our almighty God is working towards in all facets of our lives: “to be conformed to the image of his Son.” 

God is far more concerned with your Christlikeness than your comfort.  Often, more spiritual progress is made through disappointment and failure than through success and laughter.  While we shouldn’t seek out hardship, we can recognize that our Father knows best and that nothing takes Him by surprise.  When we experience “unanswered” prayer or when our challenges and pain linger far longer than we wish, we find hope in seeing that God’s eternal purpose is at work in and through the lives of His children. 

You and I are not the only ones who have experienced significant spells of quiet desperation or ongoing disappointment when we are tempted to ask “What is God doing?”  What was He doing when Stephen’s persecutors took their jackets off and threw rocks at him (Acts 7:58)?  What was He doing when Paul was run out of Damascus, lowered down from the wall in a basket (9:25)?  What was He doing when Peter was imprisoned by King Agrippa (12:3) Hard as it may be to see, He was accomplishing His eternal plan:  to make His followers more like Jesus as they walked home towards Jesus. 

Here is the source of your hope when you get up in the morning. Come rain or shine, come delight or disappointment, God will definitely accomplish His purposes in your life through the day.  Your heavenly Father has a plan and purpose for each one He calls His own.  You may be able to see how He is doing it in real time, or a few months afterwards, or perhaps not until you stand with Christ in eternity.  But know this:  today is another day when your Father will be making you more like His Son. 

Conclusion by Steve Daskal

God is ALWAYS at work. He is ensuring that ALL things are working towards our spiritual growth into the likeness of Christ.  There’s no question that Jesus faced plenty of frustration and sadness in His life, especially but not only during His three years of ministry leading up to the cross.  Through Jesus’ experiences, God in His omnipotence knew weakness, in His absolute authority learned obedience and perseverance, and in His Son’s death the pain of separation from a loved one otherwise unknowable to eternal God. 

The originator of this work is…

Alistair Begg

Get to the Gospel with Muslims

Provided by Steve Daskal

Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics

When it comes to talking with Muslims, I like to point them to Jesus—his life and his message—described in the Gospels. Why? Muslims must believe in Jesus (as a prophet) and in the revelation given to him (the Quran calls this revelation the Injil). My approach is simple and contains four steps:

1. Ask a key question.
2. Point to Jesus in the Gospels.
3. Use a tactic if necessary.
4. Go back to Jesus in the Gospels.

Before I unpack these four steps, a quick clarification is in order. The Quran teaches that Allah gave each of his prophets divine revelation in the form of a book. An angel dictated the contents of these books to his prophets: the Torah (Taurat) to Moses, the Psalms (Zabbur) to David, the Gospel (Injil) to Jesus, and the Quran to Mohammed. Most Muslims believe the Injil is a single book (like the Quran) given to Jesus, but there is no historical evidence whatsoever that Jesus received or was given any document. When the Quran refers to the Injil that the Christians had in the 7th century (that’s when the Quran was written), the only Gospels the Christians possessed were Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Therefore, the Quran’s reference to the Injil is most likely a reference to the four Gospels. With that background information, let’s unpack these four steps.

Ask a Key Question

First, ask a key question. One of my favorite questions to ask a Muslim is, “Are you 100% certain you are going to Heaven?” To the best of my memory, I’ve never had a Muslim answer yes. Why? According to Islam, whether a person goes to Heaven or not is determined by Allah based, in part, on the number (and weight) of the good and bad deeds they commit in their lifetime. Since no Muslim knows what their deeds will amount to, my follow-up question is, “Would you like to have 100% certainty?” Most Muslims will either want that level of certainty or, more likely, just be curious as to what I’ll say next.

Point to Jesus in the Gospels

Second, point them to Jesus in the Gospels. Specifically, I tell my Muslim friend to read John 3:16–18 (or I read it with them).

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

This passage is a good summary of the message of reconciliation that God offers sinful man. In other words, it’s a good summary of the gospel message. It gives anyone who “believes in [Jesus]” the confidence that he “shall not perish, but have eternal life.” I use this passage for several strategic reasons. First, it’s easy for a Christian to remember the reference of this passage because it’s connected to the most famous verse in the Bible (John 3:16). You just need to remember to add two additional verses. Second, it’s found in one of the Gospels of the Bible. This is significant because the Quran identifies the Gospels (the Injil) as revelation from Allah. According to the six articles of faith in Islam, Muslims must believe in all of God’s books, one of which is the Injil. Third, the passage is a quote from Jesus. Muslims are required to believe in all the prophets identified in the Quran, and Jesus (the Quran calls him Isa) is one of them.

If your Muslim friend is willing to receive Jesus’ message and perhaps learn more about him, then you can invite them to read more of John or the other Gospels. This is good news since you were successful at presenting the message of reconciliation from the lips of Jesus. Unfortunately, there is also a good chance your Muslim friend will reject what Jesus says in John because of a very common objection.

Use a Tactic if Necessary

Third, use a tactic if necessary. The most likely objection you’ll get from your Muslim friend is, “The Bible is corrupted.” In other words, Muslims can’t trust what is said in John 3:16–18 because although the Gospels (Injil) are a revelation from Allah, they have since been corrupted.

I use a tactic to undermine this objection, because until you do, your Muslim friend will not heed Jesus’ message from John. The tactic leverages a Muslim’s commitment to the Quran, their highest authority. The goal is to show that the Quran teaches the Gospels (Injil) have not been corrupted but are trustworthy. The tactic incorporates three things the Quran affirms about the Gospels (Injil):

• The Gospels (Injil) are a divine revelation from Allah (surah 3:3, 2:136, 5:46).
• The Gospels (Injil) were available in Mohammed’s day (7th century) when the Quran was being “revealed” (surah 4:47, 5:47, 5:68, 7:157).
• The Gospels (Injil) are authoritative—they should be believed and obeyed (surah 5:68, 4:136, 29:46).

In other words, the Quran teaches that Allah sent Jesus the Gospels (Injil) and also that they were available to Christians and Muslims in the 7th century. Why, then, would Allah command people to obey the Gospels (Injil) if they were corrupted? That wouldn’t make sense. What you are trying to demonstrate to your Muslim friend is that their claim that the Gospels (Injil) are corrupted is at odds with what the Quran—their highest authority—teaches.

The Gospels (Injil) couldn’t have been corrupted after the Quran either. There exist copies of the entire Bible—Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus—that date a few hundred years before the Quran was written. The copies of the Bibles we have today are consistent with those manuscripts.

If your Muslim friend acknowledges your point and relents on their claim that the Gospels in the New Testament are corrupted, then this will open up an opportunity for them to learn about Jesus from the passage in John.

Go Back to Jesus in the Gospels

Fourth, go back to Jesus in the Gospels. Now you can go back to John and resume telling your friend about Jesus, his mission, and the message of reconciliation. At that point, you’ve accomplished an important goal in sharing God’s offer of a pardon with your Muslim friend.

Some people wonder if a conversation can really be that simple. No. I’m not claiming every conversation goes in this direction, or that it’s always simple, or that it always—or even usually—works. I’m merely laying out the approach I take. I want to get to the gospel message, and I’ve found this method makes it possible quite often.

The originator of this work is…

Alan Shlemon

Stand to Reason