Greek Lessons - Exegesis - For New Students Too

 The opening of John declares what Genesis 1 teaches.
Class is 8 PM Central Daylight this week,
Central Standard afterwards.

Tonight we will finish the Gospel of John in Greek and begin Greek exegesis.

We have attracted extra students who were not going to learn Greek, but began attending because the lessons are mostly English and are relevant to everyone.

Exegesis (Hebrew, Greek, English) means declaring what is in the text. Jesus is the exegesis of the Father (John 1) Who declares what the Father really is. The Gospel of John is devoted to this. As my friend says, John is the doctrinal Gospel.

This series in Greek exegesis will have a lower percentage of Greek content but will include the key doctrinal verses for such issues as the Real Presence, infant faith, etc.

Anyone listening can catch onto what the Greek geeks are thinking about. True exegesis means declaring what the passage really means, not what a denomination, era, fad, or cult imagines. The ultimate example in our age is Lenski. Luther's exegesis in his sermons is the finest example of all.

These lessons will be in November and stop in December for the tent-making season (grades, final tests, etc). We can discuss future classes using the same methods in January but stopping for Lent.

One product of the Gospel of John class will be the Brief Commentary I am writing.

 The Bible is a unified truth, so Luke 15 and
John 10 teach the same concept, with a different emphasis,
also reflecting on Psalm 23 and Isaiah 40.

More Gems from the Sermons of Martin Luther, Volume V

Christians Distinguished from Heathen

1. In this Gospel we see how God distinguishes Christians from heathen. For the Lord does not deliver these teachings to the heathen, for they could not receive them, but to his Christians. However, he does not consider those Christians, who only hear his Word, so as to learn it and be able to repeat it, as the nuns do the Psalter. In this way Satan also hears the Gospel and the Word of God, yea, he knows it far better than we do, and he could preach it as well as we, if he only wanted to; but the Gospel is a doctrine that should become a living power and be put into practice; it should strengthen and comfort the people, and make them courageous and aggressive.

Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

Love Gold and Earthly Possessions, Hate God

It is impossible for one, who loves gold and earthly possessions and cleaves to them, not to hate God. For God here contrasts these two as enemies to one another, and concludes, if you love and cleave to one of these two, then you must hate and despise the other. Therefore, however nicely and genteelly one lives here upon earth and cleaves to riches, it cannot be otherwise than that he must hate God; and on the other hand, whoever does not cleave to gold and worldly goods, loves God. This is certainly true.

#5, Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

$100,000

Examine now and see, if our heart is not a rogue, full of wickedness and unbelief. If I were a true Christian, I would say. The hour the Gospel is received, there comes to me a hundred thousand dollars, and much more. For if I possess this treasure, I have all that is in heaven and upon earth. But one must serve this treasure only, for no man can serve God and mammon. Either you must love God and hate money; or you must hate God and love money; this and nothing more.

#8, Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

Little Birds Teach Us

28. As if the Lord would say: You have never yet seen a bird with a sickle, with which it harvested and gathered into barns; yea, the birds do not labor like we; and still they are nourished. By this the Lord does not however teach that we are to be idle; but he tries by this example to take all anxiety from us. For a bird cannot do the work of a farmer as we do; yet, it is not free from labor, but it does the work for which it was created, namely, it bears its young, feeds them and sings to our Lord God a little song for the privilege of doing this. Had God imposed more labor upon it, then it would have done more. Early in the morning it rises, sits upon a twig and sings a song it has learned, while it knows not where to obtain its food, and yet it is not worried as to where to get its breakfast. Later, when it is hungry, it flies away and seeks a grain of corn, where God stored one away for it, of which it never thought while singing, when it had cause enough to be anxious about its food. Ay, shame on you now, that the little birds are more pious and believing than you; they are happy and sing with joy and know not whether they have anything to eat.

Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

May the Gospel Break Forth in Deeds

35. Now the sum of this Gospel is: Christians should not worry about what they are to eat; God provides for them before they think of their need; but they are to labor, that is commanded them. But what the kingdom of God and his righteousness are, would require too much time to discuss, you have often heard about them, if you have been attentive. This is now enough on today’s Gospel. May God grant us grace that someday we may also even put it into practice! May the Gospel remain not only in our ears and on our tongues, but come into our hearts and break forth fresh into loving deeds!

Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

Blinded by Abundance

6. Thus we may observe all creatures and become convinced of God’s goodness in them. Christ says in Matthew 5:5: “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” As though he would say: I give it to the whole crowd; but who thanks me a single time for it? He enlightens my and your eyes, but no one acknowledges that it is God’s blessing. If some morning the sun should not rise, or rise three hours late, what distress and loss would that cause? How we would open our mouths and eyes? Then everyone would say: God be praised and thanked, who has given us such a light! But since it occurs daily, that the sun rises and shines at the appointed time, no one considers it a blessing. So it is with the rain from heaven, with the grain in the field and with all God’s creatures. They exist in such abundance, and we are daily so overwhelmed by their abundance that we fail to see them.

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

Greek Lesson - John 21 - Peter's Absolution. Exegesis

 Graphics by Norma Boeckler -
this is the most read post on Ichabod. - 108,000+ views.

Parser Link
John 21

15 οτε ουν ηριστησαν, λεγει τω σιμωνι πετρω ο ιησους σιμων ιωνα αγαπας με πλειον τουτων? λεγει αυτω ναι κυριε συ οιδας οτι φιλω σε λεγει αυτω βοσκε τα αρνια μου (lambs)

Simon - not Peter. φιλω - not the verb Jesus used - weaker.

16 λεγει αυτω παλιν δευτερον, σιμων ιωνα αγαπας με? λεγει αυτω ναι κυριε συ οιδας οτι φιλω σε λεγει αυτω ποιμαινε τα προβατα μου (sheep)

17 λεγει αυτω το τριτον σιμων ιωνα φιλεις με? ελυπηθη ο πετρος οτι ειπεν αυτω το τριτον φιλεις με και ειπεν αυτω κυριε συ παντα οιδας συ γινωσκεις οτι φιλω σε λεγει αυτω ο ιησους βοσκε τα προβατα μου

Lenski - For already when the angel sent the first message by the women he said, "Tell his disciples and Peter," Mark 16:7. Peter was present when Jesus appeared behind the locked doors and gave the disciples the commission, "So I, too, send you." Peter was thus absolved and reinstated into his office and was again established among the believers, including the eleven. His case, however, was so grave that Jesus proceeded to do more. Here at the lakeside he takes Peter in hand in order to eradicate from his heart the last trace of false self-confidence, and at the same time in order to cut off any possible foolish criticism on the part of any members in the church, he formally and publicly reinstates Peter into his office.

 Peter's Martyrdom

18 αμην αμην λεγω σοι οτε ης νεωτερος, εζωννυες σεαυτον και περιεπατεις οπου ηθελες - οταν δε γηρασης εκτενεις τας χειρας σου και αλλος σε ζωσει και οισει οπου ου θελεις

Peter crucified in 64, led with rope around his waist to his death. οισει οπου ου θελεις - emphatic not, Lenski.

19 τουτο δε ειπεν σημαινων ποιω θανατω δοξασει τον θεον και τουτο ειπων λεγει αυτω ακολουθει μοι

signing by which

20 επιστραφεις δε ο πετρος βλεπει τον μαθητην ον ηγαπα ο ιησους ακολουθουντα - ος και ανεπεσεν εν τω δειπνω επι το στηθος αυτου - και ειπεν κυριε τις εστιν ο παραδιδους σε

21 τουτον ιδων ο πετρος λεγει τω ιησου κυριε ουτος δε τι

22 λεγει αυτω ο ιησους εαν αυτον θελω μενειν εως ερχομαι τι προς σε συ ακολουθει μοι

23 εξηλθεν ουν ο λογος ουτος εις τους αδελφους οτι ο μαθητης εκεινος ουκ αποθνησκει και ουκ ειπεν αυτω ο ιησους οτι ουκ αποθνησκει αλλ εαν αυτον θελω μενειν εως ερχομαι τι προς σε

24 ουτος εστιν ο μαθητης ο μαρτυρων περι τουτων και γραψας ταυτα και οιδαμεν οτι αληθης εστιν η μαρτυρια αυτου

25 εστιν δε και αλλα πολλα οσα εποιησεν ο ιησους ατινα εαν γραφηται καθ εν, ουδε αυτον οιμαι τον κοσμον χωρησαι τα γραφομενα βιβλια αμην

1550 Stephanus New Testament (TR1550)

Exegesis - 

18 θεον ουδεις εωρακεν πωποτε ο μονογενης υιος ο ων εις τον κολπον του πατρος εκεινος εξηγησατο (has exegeted Him - exegesato)

Strong Thayer notes - here.

"About ad 75, Josephus used 1834 (eksēgéomai) as a "technical term for the interpretation of the law as practiced by the rabbinate" (A. Schlatter, Der Evangelist Johannes, Stuttgart, 1948, p 36, who cites Josephus, Ant. 17.149; War 1.649; 2.162).]"

Lenski

The wonderful person thus described to us can, indeed, and did, indeed, bring us the ultimate revelation, "he did declare him." The demonstrative  is resumptive and emphatic, taking up "God Only begotten" together with the appended relative clause, R. 707 and 708. The verb is choice and impressive and is not used otherwise by the evangelist. It goes far beyond what any man could do, assuming even that it were possible for him to see God and then to tell us what he had seen. The tense is the historical aorist, summing up all that Jesus "did declare" concerning God not only by his words and his deeds but also by his very coming and the presence of his person. The Logos is the supreme exegete, the absolute interpreter of God. The verb means more than erzaehlen, "to narrate or tell"; it means "to expound" or "set forth completely." The Greek is able to dispense with an object, but the English cannot imitate this brevity. So some supply "it," which is too weak and means too little; others, what he beheld while being with God, which is well enough in substance but too long in form; "him" is best of all. "Christ did not receive the revelation in time, like the Old Testament prophets, by means of the inspiration of the spirit of God, passing it on to others; he is himself the eternal Logos and the essential truth. He made known on earth what he beheld with the Father and heard from the Father as the Son of God before the foundation of the world, John 3:32; 6:46; 8:26, 38, 40; 12:50 (compare the analogous expression concerning the Holy Ghost, 16:13). And this which he received and obtained not merely in time but beheld and heard before his incarnation in eternity he sees and hears also continuously as man, since it is an eternal seeing and hearing and not subject to the change of time. For as we have already learned, he is the exegete of the Father, as the one who is in the bosom of the Father, and he knoweth the Father, as the Father knoweth him, John 8:55; 10:15. And as he knows the Father, so he knows also men, his brethren." Philippi, Glauhenslehre, IV, 1, 443. Thus also the last word re-echoes and joins again the first word  Logos The Word — he did declare. And this ushers in the historical account, setting down for us what "he did declare."

The Other Reformation: How Martin Luther Changed Our Beer, Too : The Salt : NPR

WELS-LCMS clergy say, "The only thing we like about Luther."

The Other Reformation: How Martin Luther Changed Our Beer, Too : The Salt : NPR:



"On this day 500 years ago, an obscure Saxon monk launched a protest movement against the Catholic Church that would transform Europe. Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation changed not just the way Europeans lived, fought, worshipped, worked and created art but also how they ate and drank. For among the things it impacted was a drink beloved throughout the world and especially in Luther's native Germany: beer."



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