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Isaiah 50:4-9a

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... as he faces conflict and enemies. It is a song of trust in God's help and vindication in times of ridicule and accusations."1 Stendahl points to verse 4, "The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with ... Jesus who is reported by the gospel writer, John, to have said, "... for the words that you gave to me I have given to [my disciples] and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you ..." (John 17:8). The student learns by listening. "Faith ...

2. Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

Acts 1:12-26

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... , but since the same verb “to choose” is used here as was used in verse 2 of Jesus’ choice of the apostles (also Luke 6:13; John 6:70; 13:18; 15:16, 19) and since Peter had just called Jesus “Lord” (v. 21), it is likely that the prayer was addressed to ... the twelve apostles of Jesus” (B. Reicke, “The Constitution of the Church,” in The Scrolls and the New Testament, ed. K. Stendahl, p. 151). But rather than a direct influence of Qumran on Jesus, the number in each case is better explained as ...

3. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Matthew 10:1-42

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... of God. As the well-known hymn has it, “Be not dismayed whate’re betide; God will take care of you.” 10:32–33 Stendahl gives the gist of this next paragraph as “the only thing worth fearing is not to be found on Jesus’ side by failure to confess ... recorded saying of Jesus in the New Testament. It is found six times in the Gospels (cf. Matt. 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33; John 12:25). If a person seeks to preserve his own life he will lose it, but if for the sake of Christ he lets it go he ...

4. Jesus Walks on the Water

Matthew 14:22-36

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... we should interpret the first as “toward the sea” and the second as “by the sea” (cf. similar uses in Mark 16:2 and John 21:1). Taken in this way, Jesus, as he came toward the lake, saw the boat that had been driven to the northern shore ... It’s a ghost. Jesus responded immediately, saying “It’s all right!” (Phillips), “I AM” (egō eimi), the living God is present. Stendahl notes that the “egō eimi may have a numinous and divine ring” (p. 786), in which case it would be translated “I ...

5. Peters Confession to Christ

Matthew 16:13-20

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes” (4:5). From Matthew 11:14 and 17:10–13 we learn that John the Baptist was interpreted as Elijah returned from the dead. Elijah was in many ways the greatest of the prophets, and Jeremiah was ... , “And upon you I will build my church,” is highly persuasive. Some have taken the rock to be Peter’s faith. Stendahl, however, holds that any distinction between Peter and his faith “presupposes a sophistication of a sort not to be expected in our ...

6. The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

Acts 2:1-13

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... 2:38; 9:17; 11:17; 19:2; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:2; Eph. 1:13; Titus 3:5; Heb. 6:4; 1 John 3:24). Therefore, no one may ask whether the believer has been baptized with the Spirit, for the very fact of being in the body of Christ ... to receive it (cf. 1 Cor. 12:6ff., 30; 14:5)—“tongues” are a means of “communication between the believer and God” (K. Stendahl, Paul Among Jews and Gentiles [London: S.C.M. Press, 1977], p. 113) and, especially, a means of giving praise, of responding emotionally ...

7. Shining as Stars

Philippians 2:12-18

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... Peace among Men of God’s Good Pleasure’ Lk. 2:14,” in The Scrolls and the New Testament, ed. K. Stendahl, p. 117). Paul’s Hope for the Philippians The Philippians’ obedience, the working out of their salvation, depended very largely ... age and bear their shining witness already. For the designation “sons of light” or “children of light” applied to followers of Christ cf. Luke 16:8; John 12:36; Eph. 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:5. 2:16 That I may boast: Gk. eis kauchēma emoi, “for a (ground of) boasting ...

8. The Beatitudes

Matthew 5:1-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... the Lord was “clean hands and a pure heart” (Ps. 24:3–4). The reward for complete and inward integrity is to see God. John writes that “no one has ever seen God” (1:18), and Paul supplies the reason: it is because he “lives in unapproachable light” ( ... God’s sight) is great. The prophets received that kind of treatment, and you are their true successors (cf. 23:29–36). Stendahl thinks that Jesus may be referring to his disciples as prophets in much the same way as did the Essenes (p. 776). ...

9. Prayer

Matthew 6:5-15

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... shorter form, is found in Luke 11:2–4 where Jesus responds to his disciples’ request to teach them to pray as John had taught his disciples. The differences between the two accounts argue that the prayer was intended as a guide rather than a ... by four requests for the life of believers here and now. Many scholars interpret the entire prayer in an eschatological setting (Stendahl calls it an “extended Maranatha,” p. 779), the daily bread being the messianic banquet and the temptation a reference to ...

10. Before the Sanhedrin

Matthew 26:57-68

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... temple, only that the temple would be destroyed (Matt. 24:1–2). Furthermore, the “temple” of which Jesus spoke in John 2:19 was “his body” (note John 2:21). 26:62–68 The high priest asked Jesus if he had any answer to the accusation made against him ... of accusation. That the terminology Christ, the Son of God belongs to the church rather than to Jewish leaders (so Stendahl, p. 796) does not prevent Caiaphas from phrasing his question in language appropriate to the messianic claims of Jesus. 26: ...

11. The Guards' Report

Matthew 28:11-15

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... account of the events surrounding the resurrection is given in each of the four Gospels. John tells of Mary Magdalene finding the tomb empty and running to tell Peter and John. Jesus then appears to Mary and later that evening to the eleven disciples who ... the rounds in Jewish circles ever since. Beare holds that verses 11–14 are “completely incredible as a whole” (p. 543). Stendahl would argue that it is “reasonable to suggest that the resurrection tradition in the Gospels has its nucleus in an ...

12. The Law and the Promise

Galatians 3:15-25, Galatians 3:1-14

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... is heard (cf. Rom. 10:16; 1 Thess. 2:13). It bears the same meaning in Paul and in the rest of the NT (e.g., Mark 4:23; 1 John 1:1; Heb. 2:3) as in our modern context when a person might say “I hear you,” meaning “I accept what you are saying.” The phrase “believe what ... 3:23 Others also understand “the faith” to refer to Christ. See, for example, K. Stendahl, Paul among Jews and Gentiles (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976), p. 21; R. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ, pp. 230–32; Martyn, Galatians, ...

13. Jesus Heals Many

Matthew 8:14-17

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... –10. By recording the miracles in a form more concise than Luke’s, Matthew makes the statements of Jesus stand out more distinctly. 8:14–17 From John 1:44 we know that Peter came from the town of Bethsaida (a fishing village on the north shore of Galilee just east of the Jordan). Mark ... as spiritual healing has been provided by the atoning death of Jesus. To fulfill: Stendahl holds that the formula quotations originated with a school led by a converted rabbi who applied Jewish methods of teaching to a new ...

14. The Parable of the Net

Matthew 13:47-52

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... would be those forbidden by Jewish law (Lev. 11:10–11;) or perhaps simply those that were inedible. Legend (perhaps based on John 21:11) has it that there were 153 different kinds of fish. The Sea of Galilee is said to contain 54 different ... who knows how to bring out from his treasury things new as well as old. The order new and old is probably significant. Stendahl (p. 786) notes that Matthew is anxious to relate Jesus’ messianic manifestation and teaching (the new) to the promises of the Old Testament ...

15. Faith or Observance of the Law

Galatians 3:1-14, Galatians 3:15-25

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis