PATTERN OF SOUND WORDS

Tag: Sacrament of Holy Baptism

  • Notes and Useful Applications for 1 Corinthians 9:24–10:5 from Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877)

    The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for the Epistle Reading of Septuagesima, 1 Corinthians 9:24–10:5, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.

    1 Corinthians 9:24–27

    II. Concerning Paul’s lifestyle, that he lives moderately and that he still is of the single estate; but especially, that he preaches the Gospel without pay, etc. (v. 24–27)

    Annotated Text

    24. Do you not know,1 that those who run in the race (Luther: “In or around the competition”) all run, but (only) one obtains the (set forth) prize? (namely, the one who first reaches the goal) Run now thus (carry out your run in Christendom in such a manner), that you may seize it (that you may obtain the promised heavenly reward out of grace, so that you do not run in vain).

    (Galatians 5:7; Philippians 3:14; 2 Timothy 4:7; Hebrews 12:1)

    1 † Here follows the conclusion of all the preceding admonitions to right use of freedom, and therein rests the greater part on the little word “abstain” [ἐγκρατεύεται] (v. 25), which here signifies so much as  “to exercise self-control” [abbrechen sich], as that upon which [the right use of freedom] continually depends.

    25. But * everyone who competes restrains himself in all things (that might hinder him in the attainment of the victory); those (those who run or compete in the race) such that they receive a perishable crown (or wreath, for the most part of leaves or herbs), but we (all of us together who as spiritual combatants must always be at war against the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh; if we overcome, we will obtain) an imperishable one (an incorruptible eternal crown, 1 Peter 5:4).

    * Ephesians 6:12 (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7; 1 Peter 1:4)

    26. Now1 I run in this way, not as uncertain (as those who do not know that they will reach and will win without fail, and thus have striven for nothing and in vain); I fight in this way, not as one who strikes in the air (as swordsman at times make many failing strikes in that they do not hit their opponent, but rather, strike the air; rather, I have set before myself a certain victory in my spiritual race and combat, toward which I direct all my doings, namely, God’s honor, the conversion and salvation of men, and my own eternal welfare. Luther: “Just as a combatant  who runs out of bounds must miss the goal and one who strikes and makes failing strikes, swings vainly into the air, in this way it goes with all who indeed do many good works without faith, for they are uncertain how they are with God, therefore, they are mere missed runs, failing strikes, and false works”).

    (2 Timothy 1:8)

    1Greek: “Therefore, I also run (as you previously heard) …” [ἐγὼ τοίνυν οὕτως]

    27. Rather, I * subdue (and overcome) my body and tame it (through moderation and fasting; I also do not indulge in my fleshly lusts and desires that want to hold me back from right course and combat, but rather I subdue them and guard against them so that they do not break out into works), that I not preach to others (and that they would be saved through the preaching of the Gospel, 1 Corinthians 4:16), and disqualify myself (that I do not make myself unfit for good and give an evil example to others).1

    * Romans 8:13, 13:14 (Galatians 5:24)

    1 † Because the apostles has previously spoken about restraining oneself and exercising self-control out of love toward others in the use of middle things [i.e., adiaphora] and also about taking pay, so this also must without doubt be understood as abstaining from various things of the like to avoid offense, even if became hard upon his flesh and blood. For properly speaking, the discourse here is not concerning fasting.

    Useful Applications

    II. COMFORT and CORRECTION: It is a great comfort for Christians that their running finally brings a glorious crown; however, each must see to it that he does not forfeit it with loveless self-will. (v. 24–27)

    1 Corinthians 10:1–5

    I. Paul counters the objection of the converted Corinthians, since they supposed that, by virtue of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, there would be no distress with them in the rest, even if they made use of idol sacrifices; there, Paul holds before them certain types from the Old Testament, with proof, [namely, that] just as the Jews misused those same signs of grace and yet finally were harshly punished, that God also in this way will visit those who eat of idol-sacrifices. (v. 1–14)

    Annotated Text

    1. But I do not want to hold back from you, beloved brothers, that * our fathers (our forefathers, the Israelites in the Old Testament, in whose stead you have been received as the people of God in the New Testament) were (indeed) all under the cloud (under the pillar of cloud in which the Lord went before them by day so that He led them on the right way; the cloud which also stood over them, Numbers 14:14, and which overshadowed them), and † all went through the (Red) Sea (and thus were rescued from the hand of Pharoah who pursued them with a great army).

    * Exodus 13:1

    † Exodus 14:22 (Nehemiah 9:19; Psalm 78:14)

    2. And they were all baptized under Moses1 (who led them through the Red Sea and through the wilderness) with the cloud and with the sea. (This passage through the Red Sea and this covering by the cloud was a type of Holy Baptism, which has been instituted in the New Testament. For in the same way that God the Lord assured the Israelites of His gracious presence and His help against enemies through these wonderful blessings, in the same way Holy Baptism is a powerful seal of the divine promise and a certain testimony of the grace of God. Just as the Israelites were rescued from the bondage of Pharoah by such passage, but Pharoah with all his hosts was drowned in the Red Sea, in this way Holy Baptism is the saving bath of renewal and regeneration [Titus 3:5], by which we are redeemed from the power of the devil and the bondage of sin, that the old man with his evil lusts be drowned, and the new man may arise [Romans 6:4, 6]. Just as the Israelites by this blessing were obliged to believe the doctrine of Moses, in the same we are baptized into Christ and are thereby obliged to believe His Word and follow His commandments.)

    (1 Peter 3:21)

    1 Greek: “into Moses” [εἰς τὸν Μωϋσῆν], that is, into that church polity [German: Kirchenverfassung] that was set by him before the people from Sinai as a covenant.

    3. And * they all ate the same spiritual food (namely, the Manna, which is therefore called a spiritual food, because it fell from heaven in an wonderful unnatural manner, and because it signified the spiritual soul-food, Christ Jesus, John 6:32–33, who feeds us with His flesh in the Holy Supper);

    * Exodus 16:15ff. (Psalm 105:40)

    4. And * they all drank the same spiritual drink (namely, the water that flowed from the rock, which is called a spiritual drink because it sprung forth from the hard rock in a supernatural manner, and because it signified the spiritual soul-drink, Christ Jesus, who quenches us with His blood in the Holy Supper); but they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, which was Christ. (As our fathers altogether, both the wicked as well as the pious, drank from the same water which flowed from the rock, so they also, according to the figure and type, drank from the spiritual rock which led them through the wilderness, which spiritual rock was no one other than the Son of God, Christ Jesus.)

    * Exodus 17:6ff. (Numbers 20:10, 21:16; Psalm 78:15ff.)

    5. But with many of them (among those same Israelites) God had no good pleasure; for * they were struck down (and all those who were over twenty years perished altogether when they were led out of Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb excepted) in the wilderness. (From this, it sufficiently appears that God has no pleasure in them.)

    * John 6:49 (Numbers 26:65; Psalm 106:26; Hebrews 3:17ff.)

    Useful Applications

    I. WARNING: Because Paul warns his own of idolatry, fornication, tempting God, and impatient murmuring on the basis that the end of the world had come upon them, how much more ought we allow ourselves to be warned, we who live seventeen hundred years afterward and who have fallen into the last sludge of the evil world? (v. 1, 11)

  • Notes and Useful Applications for Romans 6:1–11 from Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877)

    The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for the Epistle Reading of the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, Romans 6:1–11, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.

    I. An answer to the objection as though this doctrine of justification by faith gives a reason to sin. (v. 1–11)

    Annotated Text

    1. What shall we1 say to this? (Namely, to that which the godless deduce and conclude from what is said in Romans 5:20) * Ought we then to persist in sin (and continue wantonly), so that grace be all the more powerful? (So that God might have an occasion to pour out His grace and mercy all the more richly upon us?)

    1 Greek: “now” (since we are assured of so rich a grace). [The Greek text has οὖν, literally, “therefore.”]

    * Galatians 2:17

    2. May that be far (from us, that we should say or think such, much less that we do such! For) How should we1 want to live in sin, we2 who have died to it? (In a spiritual manner, that it has just as little right over us as over a dead man, and that accordingly we ought noy allow sin to live, work, and rule in us.)

    1 Greek: “still further”

    2 Greek: “we as those who”

    * Galatians 6:14 (1 Peter 2:24)

    3. Do you * not know1, that all who of us2 who have been baptized in (and upon) Jesus Christ (and were incorporated into Him in a spiritual manner) were baptized into His death? (So that we become partakers of the power of His death in no other way than if we ourselves were already dead to sins. Through such power of the death Christ, not only were our sins forgiven us, but we also received the Holy Spirit, who curbs and puts sin to death in us. Luther: “We are baptized into Christ’s death so that we die as He did; for we do not die completely to sin unless the flesh also dies bodily.”)

    * Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12 (2 Corinthians 4:11)

    1 Greek: “or” [ἢ]

    2 Greek: “as many of us” [ὅσοι]

    4. Therefore, we were each * buried with Him (in a spiritual manner) through Baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father (through the glorious power of God, which He allowed to be seen in the resurrection of Christ), † in this way we also ought to walk in a new life (henceforth lead a new life and no longer a sinful life. The holy apostle is referring to the practice that was used in the first apostolic Church, that those who were baptized were completely immersed under the water and thus, as it were, buried, and afterward were drawn out again of the water, and thus, as it were, raised again, to indicate, that they had become partakers of the power of the death and resurrection of Christ, and that they ought to die to sin, but on the other hand, walk in new holy life).

    * Romans 8:10

    † Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:8ff.; 1 Peter 2:1, 4:1–2; Hebrews 12:1 (Colossians 2:12)

    5. Therefore, we were planted together with Him to a similar death (that through Baptism we are planted into Him in such way that we are like Him in death, because we died to sin, Romans 6:2), so we will also be1 [planted with Him] (our beloved Savior) [in] * the resurrection.

    * 2 Timothy 2:11f. (John 15:5; Colossians 3:1ff.)

    1 Greek: “For if we are planted together with him (as it were, grafted into Him [σύμφυτοι]) according to the likeness of His death (that its power is reckoned and imparted to us), so it follows that we also ought to be planted together with Him in the likeness of His resurrection (and its power show itself in us).”

    6. Because we know, that our old man (our sinful flesh with its lusts and cravings) was crucified together with Him * (curbed, put to death, and made nothing; consequently its power to condemn us and to rule in us has been taken away through Christ’s suffering and death), so that the sinful body (the body of sin, the inherited sin, which poisons us in body and soul, and itself rules in all members) might cease (become powerless and no longer have reign [over us]), that we henceforth not serve sin.

    * Galatians 5:24 (Colossians 3:5)

    7. For whoever has died (has died in a spiritual manner to sin, Romans 6:2, and has rendered satisfaction to righteousness through one’s own or another’s death reckoned to him), he has been justified (made free and exonerated) from sin (that inherited sin and also his committed sins are no longer reckoned to him, so that sin also can no longer have dominion over him).

    8. Now if we have died (died to sin) with Christ (in a spiritual manner), so we believe that we also will live (in a new and spiritual manner) with him (because we have been raised by Him to a spiritual life).

    (Romans 8:17; Galatians 5:24, 2:20)

    9. And we know that Christ, being raised from the dead, * henceforth does not die (but rather remains in the new heavenly life always and eternally, into which He entered through the resurrection); death henceforth does not rule over Him (as also previously death did not rule over Him, because He died not under compulsion, but rather willingly).

    10. For in that He died, He died to sin * once for all (so that with His single sacrifice He might make full atonement for the sin of the entire world, which He had taken upon Himself, and also that He might abolish it  and destroy it, Hebrews 9:26); but in that He (now)† lives (in highest and heavenly joy), He lives to God (with God, His heavenly Father, and to the honor of God the Father, Philippians 2:11).

    * Hebrews 9:28

    † Isaiah 53:10 (Hebrews 7:16)

    11. In this way, you also consider yourselves, that you (with Christ) are dead to sin (and therefore you should no longer have any fellowship with it), and alive to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord (in whom you now ought to lead a new heavenly life before God, not only for a time, but rather continually, in spiritual joy which comes from a clear conscience and irreproachable conduct).

    (Galatians 2:19; Colossians 3:3)

    Useful Applications

    I. CORRECTION: The doctrine of justification and salvation which comes by grace only through faith in Christ ought not tempt us to sin, as though grace thereby would become all the more powerful, rather, it ought to restrain us from sin, because in Baptism we have renounced sin and, so to speak, have died with Christ so that as Christ was raised from the dead, so also we ought to walk in a new life. (v. 1–4)

  • Notes and Useful Applications for Matthew 3:13–17 from Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877)

    The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for the Holy Gospel of the Baptism of Our Lord (Wednesday of the First Sunday after Epiphany), Matthew 3:13–17, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.

    III. The history of the Baptism of Christ. (v. 13–17)

    Annotated Text

    13. At that time came Jesus from Galilee (from Nazareth, where He had been reared by His parents, Luke 2:51) to the Jordan to John (He did not send for Him and demand him to come to Him as His servant, but rather went Himself to him), that He might allow Himself to be baptized by him. (For although Christ had no need of baptism for His own person because He was altogether without sin [Hebrews 4:15], yet because He had laid upon Himself our sin, John 1:29, He also wanted for our sake to allow Himself to be baptized in order to drown our sin in the Jordan, indeed, to cast it into the depth of the sea, Micah 7:19, and sanctify the Jordan and all waters through contact with His holy and life-giving flesh for our saving baptism. )

    (Mark 1:9; Luke 3:21)

    14. But John opposed Him (He by no means wanted to allow it) and said, “I indeed need to be baptized (and washed of sin through Your blood and Your Holy Spirit) by You (as the lesser by the greater), and you come to me (that I should baptize You, when you are the Lord, the Creator, the Holy One, and Righteous One, but I am the servant, the creature, the sinner, and the unrighteous one)?

    15. But Jesus answered and said to him, “Let it thus be (in the present estate of my humiliation) now (that I be baptized by you); in this way it befits us to fulfill all righteousness (it befits Me, as the ordained Mediator, that I not only acquire and bring back again the lost perfect righteousness to the human race through My suffering and death, Daniel 9:24, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Corinthians 5:21, but also that I sanctify the means ordained by God through which that same righteousness is offered to men and is appropriated to faith, among which is also the Sacrament of Holy Baptism; therefore, it befits Me to accept baptism, but you to impart it to Me.1 Luther: “All righteousness is fulfilled when we renounced all our righteousness and honor so that God only is regarded as the One who is righteous and who makes believers righteous. John does this when He lays aside His own righteousness and wants to be baptized and justified by Christ as a sinner. Christ also does this when He does not take up His own righteousness and honor, but rather allows Himself to be baptized and put to death, as any other sinner”).” Then he allowed it to Him (then John obeyed Christ so that he baptized Him).

    (Matthew 5:17; Galatians 4:4; Philippians 2:8)

    1 † The baptism of Christ was a part of His mediatorial office, according to which He also voluntarily submitted Himself to this will of His Father according to Zechariah 6:13, and thereby He presented a new pledge of His further, not yet carried out, perfect obedience; consequently, He brought about for us men all the gracious good pleasure of God, in particular the divine power of the ordained means of grace, above all, Holy Baptism, Psalm 40:9.

    16. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water (for at Christ’s baptism such admonition and teaching were not necessary which John was accustomed to use with other baptizands); and behold, then the heaven opened up over Him (it was seen that the heaven parted over Christ, and a bright luminous beam descended from heaven upon Christ to indicate that He is a Teacher from God who has come down from heaven, John 3:2, who through His mediatorial office would open heaven, Ephesians 1:10, and that the door of heaven is also opened to us through Holy Baptism, 1 Peter 3:21). And John saw (in this light) the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Godhead), as a dove (in bodily form as a dove, which is not a natural dove and also is not the mere external form of a dove, but rather a special creature of the Holy Spirit like a dove),1 descending and upon Him (Christ) coming (and also remaining upon Him, not as if Christ previously had previously not been partaking of the Holy Spirit; but rather, through this external descent, the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit was indicated, that He received the Spirit not according to measure, but rather in the highest fullness, John 3:34, and that He is the one who baptized with the Holy Spirit, John 1:33).

    (Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32)

    1 * And thus, this description is not to be understood only as a likeness to a gradually falling cloud.

    17. And behold, a (distinguished, clear, and majestic) * voice (God the Father) from heaven spoke down (allowed itself to be heard from the same light), “This is My beloved Son, (whom I have begotten from eternity from My own essence according to His divinity, Psalm 2:7, and whom I now present to the entire world, especially to My people Israel, as their Savior in a personally assumed human nature and in the freely undertaken form a servant [Philippians 2:7])1 in whom I have good pleasure (through whom I will fulfill My gracious will of redemption of the human race, and in whom, My beloved Son, I will love all who believe in Him, Ephesians 1:6).”

    * Matthew 17:5; Mark 1:11, 9:7 (Matthew 12:18; 1 Peter 1:17; Colossians 1:13; Isaiah 42:1)

    1 † For there is no doubt that all this happened publicly and before many people who were present.

    Useful Applications

    III. DOCTRINE: Concerning the highly praised Holy Trinity, which is revealed here publicly: God the Father through the voice from heaven, God the Son in His assumed humanity, according to which He received baptism, and of which the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, etc.,” and God the Holy Spirit in the visible form of a dove. (v. 16–17) COMFORT: O blessed water-bath which the Son of God has sanctified in Himself! (v. 15ff.) COMFORT: Yet, even more comforting is this, that the Father also assures us of His good pleasure in Him. (v. 17)

  • Notes and Useful Applications for Galatians 3:23–29 from Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877)

    The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for the Epistle Reading of the Feast of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus, Galatians 3:23–29, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.

    III. A report concerning the right use of the Law. (v. 23–29)

    Annotated Translation

    23. But, before faith came, (before the preaching of the Gospel concerning the now sent Messiah, which teaches the faith, and through which the Holy Spirit works faith, was proclaimed and spared in the world, that is, during the time of the Old Testament, before the coming of the Son of God in the flesh), we were under the Law (as those constricted) *, and were sealed (so that we were not allowed to live out our pleasure; that in this way we might bear an even greater longing for the Messiah) for faith, which should then be revealed (until the time when the Gospel should be preached in all he world and we were redeemed from the burden of the Law).

    * Galatians 4:3 (Romans 7:6, 16:25ff.)

    24. In this way the Law was our disciplinarian (and had kept us in school under disciples, and also through its figures and types directed us) unto Christ (just as also a disciplinarian holds a young boy strictly until he comes to his years and can rule himself, in this way, the Law has driven us through the revelation and accusation of our sin and through strict demanding of a perfect obedience, that we yearn after Christ, who would fulfill the Law in our stead and redeem us from the curse of the Law), * so that we be justified through faith (in Him).

    * Romans 10:4 (Galatians 4:19; Matthew 5:17)

    25. But now that faith has come (since now in the New Testament the Gospel concerning the appeared Messiah is preached in all the world), we are no longer under the disciplinarian (we are free from the Levitical ordinances and from the curse of the Law of the Ten Commandments).

    (Galatians 4:2ff.)

    26. For * you (believers) are all (you are according to descent Jews or Gentiles, Galatians 3:28) God’s children (and thereafter also heirs of salvation) through faith in Christ Jesus.

    * Isaiah 56:5; John 1:12; Romans 8:17 (Galatians 4:5)

    27. For as many * of you1 who are baptized (as many among you have received the Sacrament of Holy Baptist, not only according to Christ’s command, but also and chiefly unto His fellowship by faith in Him, which in the New Testament has been instituted in the stead of circumcision, Colossians 2:11), † have put on (and have come into the fellowship of all the goods of) Christ (and His righteousness through faith).

    * Romans 6:3

    1 Greek: “into Christ” [εἰς Χριστὸν]

    † Romans 13:14

    28. Here * there is neither Jew nor Greek, here there is neither slave nor free man, here there is neither man nor woman (here it is not seen nor counted before God whether someone is a Jew or Gentile, a bondservant or a free man, a man or a woman, as indeed was especially strongly considered under the Law of Moses) for you are altogether one in Christ Jesus (each one as the other is pleasing to God for the sake of Christ; also you are altogether members of one spiritual body of which Christ is the Head).

    * Romans 10:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13 (Colossians 3:11; Ephesians 2:14ff.)

    29. But if you are Christ’s (incorporated into Christ through faith and united with Him), so you are indeed * Abraham’s offspring (spiritual children of Abraham, the father of all believers), and heirs (of eternal life) according to the promise (which was made to Abraham).

    * Romans 9:7 (Romans 2:28ff, 4:17)

    Useful Applications

    III. DOCTRINE: Those who are baptized have put on Christ and have come into the fellowship of all His heavenly goods (v. 27). DOCTRINE: Indeed, whoever truly believes is God’s child; whatever he may be according to estate, whoever he may be, he can expect the heavenly inheritance (v. 26–29).