ADAM and CHRIST

Adam and Christ

Romans 5:12-21

Structure:

a. 5:12-14, through sin death came to all

  b. 5:15, grace of God and the gracious gift

    c. 5:16a, one man trespass resulted in condemnation

    c’. 5:16b, free gift (following many trespasses) brought justification

  b’. 5:17-19, abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness

a’. 5:20-21, sin reigned in death

 

One man show – Adam’s actions had global or universal consequence. Later, people’s sins had way less impact (cp. v. 14).

Sin was in the world before the LAW – before Torah. This is just a chronological statement. Even though sin would not be counted as a “transgression” (because there was no LAW/Torah as a regulation), still death ruled in the world.

The universal impact of Adam’s sin sets him as a type of the One to come – Christ. His action also had a universal impact. Free gift of Jesus Christ brought justification. No limited atonement (cp. v. 15-16 and 18-19).

Whose action	Result	To what extend
One man’s trespass	condemnation	All men
One act of righteousness	Justification and life	All men

 

This free gift adds a reigning feature into life of a believer (v. 17).  

Reigning:

Sin reigned in death

Grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ

 

PRAYER: Thanksgiving

PRAYER: Thanksgiving

Why do we need to talk about it?

Actually, it is un-natural to be thankful.

Or, in the beginning of creation thankfulness was a proper place – even God was “thankful.” Every day He acknowledged the achievements of every day with the statement “it is good” or, on the sixth day “it is very good.”

Notes on the ministry of High Priest

 Notes on the High Priest                                                                             November 10, 2024

 

Three main parts of HP job description:

1. Redeeming power of HP death (Number 35:28)

2. Anointment of a king (1 King 1:38-46)

3. Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16)

  

Let’s go in reversed order [chiastic structure :)]

SERMON: Preeminence of Christ over Old Testament High Priest

Preeminence of Christ over OT High Priest

Text: Hebrews 9:24-28

I. Intro. A reminder about the series on Hebrews. So far, we talked about

Angels,

Moses,

Sabbath rest…

Today we will talk about a ministry of High Priest   

 

II.a. High Priest “job description”

i. Anointing of a king (1 Kings 1:38-46)

ii. Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16)

iii. Death of a high priest releases people from the cities of refuge (Num.35:28)

 

What is the Day of Atonement? 

 

II.b. Preeminence of Christ (Hebrews 9:26)    

He made a proper sacrifice

He brought His own blood

This is permanent – no need to repeat it!

 

III. Take out – Jesus did it on our behalf (Hebrews 9:24)

   When we receive new members as newly born children of the Church, we know that their sins are forgiven.

   When we come to God in prayer, we can be sure that He listens.

   We do not repeat the sacrifice ON the altar, we receive the benefit of His sacrifice AT the altar.

   Even dying we find comfort, knowing that His sacrifice established a firm stairway to heaven when He awaits for us. 

Hebrews

 Letter to Hebrews  

Title: The title “to Hebrews”, unlike many of Pauline letters, is taken from the traditional listings of the letters (at least by the second half of the II century AD by Clement of Alexandria). Yet, the text for sure was known earlier. Clement of Rome [who died in 96 AD] quotes the passages it the “letter.” The letter also is a conditional title. There is a final greeting (13:22-25), but there is none in the beginning of the letter, which is a strong sign against epistolary genre. I personal idea (IMHO): it was a presentation (13:22, exhortation) for the gathering of overseers/bishops (12:15) that later was distributed or sent to other regions (13:22 could be translated as “sent” not “written”).     

Date of writing: Nowhere else in the Bible we hear about the imprisonment of Timothy – it should happen after or during his deployment to Ephesus. On the other hand, it should be completed at least a couple of years before 70 AD, overwise the comparison with the sacrificial “current” system (9:25, notice the present tense) would not make any sense. Therefore, connecting the great anti-Roman revolt of 66-70 AD in Jerusalem with 12:4, the letter was written 67-68 AD.           

Structure: adapted (and improved) from TLSB, p. 2104:

A. 1:1-3a, Intro: Christ is the true and final revelation

  B. 1:3b – 10:18, Superiority of Jesus

a. 1:3b – 2:18, superiority over angels

b. 3:1 – 4:13, superiority over Moses

c. 4:14 – 7:28, superiority over priesthood, Jesus is new Melchizedek.

d. 8:1 – 10:18, superiority of His sacrifice

  B’. 10:19 – 13:19, Exhortation to Faithfulness

a. 10:19-39, invitation to faithfulness

  b. 11, OT examples of faithfulness

    c. 12:1-13, Jesus the faithful

  b’. 12:14 – 13:29, warning based on OT examples of disobedience

a’. 13:1-19, final exhortation   

A. 13:20-21, Final blessings

    C. 13:22-25, “Epistle” greeting attachment

Main themes: As one can see from the structure, there are two MAIN themes: superiority of Jesus and, based on the confidence of access to the holy place because of Him, exhortation to faithfulness.

Main Characters:

As presenters:	As characters:
author/presenter (I believe – St. Paul) Timothy, leaders, all the saints, Italians	Angels, Moses, Melchizedek, Aaron, priests, list of the OT saints (both man and women).

Reflection in other parts of the Bible: to understand and fully appreciate the Letter to Hebrews one needs to know:

Story of Creation (Gen. 1:1 – 2:3)

Angelic role in the world (Gen. 3:22-24; Ps. 8, 91; Job 1-2; Is. 6:1-6; Lk. 1:19, 2:13-15; 1 Cor. 6:3 etc.)

The story of Moses (Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

Structure of the OT liturgical system: priests, sacrifices, calendar etc.

Story of the Patriarchs (Gen. 11 – 50) 

There are many things that are good to know, but it’s too long of a list for us.

Lutheran teaching: It is a well-known fact that Luther had “suspicions” on place of the Epistle in the Canon of Scripture. Yet, holding his reservations to himself, Luther wrote on the author and the content of the Letter, “we should be satisfied with the doctrine that he [author] bases so constantly on Scripture. For discloses a firm grasp of the reading of the Scriptures and of the proper way of dealing with them” (LW 35:395).   

OT sacrificial system was transformed through the sacrifice of Christ. Pastors are not the mediators but the ministers of grace (AC XXIV:36).    

Lutheran hymnody:

LSB 834 – O God, O Lord of Heaven and Earth

LSB 520 – Stars of the Morning, So Gloriously Bright

Relevancy of the Book: The author shows with depth the superiority of Jesus as the Messiah over any created element of the world, be it angels, humans, rituals, or sacred space. He Himself created the world and paid the price to redeem the brokenness of the world. Now we are invited to enjoy the benefits of this redemption and follow His footsteps as the agents of the world’s transformation.       

Memory verses: 9:27 “As it is appointed for man to die once, and after that judgement comes”.