The three readings in the 3-year lectionary assigned for this 20th Sunday after Pentecost are Genesis 2:18-24 (Creation of Eve); Hebrews 2:9-11 (12-18) Jesus lower than angels) and Mark 10:2-16 (Divorce and remarriage). Chosen to anaylze for this week is Hebrew 2:18 “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”
There is a wrong way and a right way to understand every theological passage in the Bible. The wrong way is from the point of view of living under the Law in which you are responsible for being saved with God giving some help. The right way is from the point of view of living under the Gospel in which God gets all the credit. At first reading it certainly does appear that verse 18 of Hebrews 2 fits into the first category in which Jesus is to be understood as a Helper or Aider in our salvation.
However, context–the queen of interpretation–cannot permit that God is only a Helper to us in getting saved. For verse 10 speaks of Jesus as the “author” of our salvation; verse 14 reveals that through His death He destroys the devil who has the power of death and in verse 15 Jesus is given the credit for releasing those of us who through the fear of death–because of our sins–were all our lifetime “subject to bondage.” The “bondage” refers to the curse of the law that through sin we deserve eternal death; that is, separation from God.
So if verse 18 cannot refer to or being aided by God in becoming saved, to what does it refer? Again the context of that very verse spells out that God provides us aid during those times in which the believer is being tempted. In fact, the verse that comes to mind is 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except such is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able; but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.”
Note well Who is driving the verbs in the sense of Who is responsible for being faithful, for not permitting more than you are able to endure and Who makes the way of escape. The answer is God Himself. With that context we can preach that though we do not contribute anything to our becoming saved, through the power of the Holy Spirit the believer is aided in times of comfort. Through faith in the promises of Jesus, we are given the strength to endure through temptations by the One Who has had personal experience with suffering and temptation as we have.
Name:Tom Baker
Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except such is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able; but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.” .
Pastor Baker, I’ve always had a hard time understanding this verse. Could you expond on this more? You said
” through the power of the Holy Spirit the believer is aided in times of comfort. Through faith in the promises of Jesus, we are given the strength to endure through temptations by the One Who has had personal experience with suffering and temptation as we have”
I was alway taught that this verse ment, I had no excuse as a Christian to sin because I was have been given the Holy Spirit. This verse always made me feel guilty because I couldn’t seem to stop sinning like I thought I should be able to do.
In regard to 1 Corinthians 10:13, the primary meaning as I see it is that God will never permit a temptation large enough to take away our faith in and of itself. Recently in speaking to a pastor who the congregation is attempting to force out of the ministy, I used this verse to assure him that God called him personally to this congregation because other pastors did not have sufficient faith to withstand what he is going through.
On the other hand, if the believer leaves the means of grace; that is, Word and Sacrament, then any temptation could overcome one’s faith. The key to the verse is to permit God to be faithful to you in strenghtening through Word and Sacrament. Depart from that means of grace and you are all on your own.
The verse does not give any indication that God will keep us from sinning due to the temptation. It does mean that God will keep us from falling from faith due to that temptation. Then, what is the “way of escape”. Because we humans by nature are fearful that God will leave us when we fall into temptation, the way of escape is the way of the cross to which we can fell for the gracious gift of the forgiveness of sins. In that way, we are kept in the one true faith by God Who will not forsake His people.
Tom
IT’S YOUR FAULT!
I find I am becoming habitual to this PROPER DISTINCTION business.
Your quote: [[There is a wrong way and a right way to understand every theological passage in the Bible. The wrong way is from the point of view of living under the Law in which you are responsible for being saved with God giving some help. The right way is from the point of view of living under the Gospel in which God gets all the credit. ]]
I exclaim, I LOVE THE LAW!
I foolishly exclaimed before and find myself even still exclaiming: I LOVED THE HELP!
The help never stopped me from sinning and it never will! GOD CAN HELP ME UNTIL THE DAY I DIE and I will find myself in HELL.
Why should anyone of us LAWBREAKERS, love that that dooms us to our end?
But because of guys like you, [yes Tom, I have to let you know, there are others!!!!], I sleep so much better at night.
If it is a matter of RIGHT AND WRONG, it is only by His Grace and Mercy to CAUSE THE LAW TO COME ALIVE IN ME and then I DIED that am I able to be WRONG continually, even when I am RIGHT!
That does not make one bit of sense to a Theologian of GLORY seeking sucker like me! “Come on, give me a break and praise me for something GOOD IN MY LIFE!!!!”
I am finding more and more as I LOOK THROUGH THE EYES OF OTHERS, who make the correct proper distinctions, that my problem is not my sinful nature as it is MY GOODNESS.
Didn’t Jesus say, only the sick need a physician? Well, Good, Godlike people don’t need God, especially if they can get themselves Well, Good and Godly!
We need the LAW!
Isn’t it interesting that God has been preaching this LAW/Gospel distinction of the Kingdom since the days of Adam.
Are we nearing the end?
michael
It’s true, our problem with grace is not our sinful self but our “good” self. When we are outwardly good we don’t seek grace and even when we are very sinful we seek to repair it again ourselves. The “good” old man is always the problem. I heard Dr. Martin L. Jones once say in sermon speaking of faith, progressively getting “higher” on the issue of the challenges to faith in the series peaking at, “Will your faith survive your sin”. His point was not “faith” itself but is your faith fixed on the Cross such that it will survive that.
The old “good” man simply will not give up his “goodness”, he desires to be more pious than God even using God’s own Law against Him in making it “more pious” as if one could. Thus, showing the true naked Satanic nature of such piety.
If God so much as blows a leaf from a tree it is the most holy work and beyond measure. But if a man at the expense of his own life saves millions and even evangelized millions the work is unholy. Now that grates the old man. Why? Because good works rely upon the source from which they came to be truly good, good works do not make the one doing them “good”. Thus, if God only blows the leaf it is purely holy and if man does all that it’s sin. That’s not natural at all to our thinking. Our thinking of good works and by them one is defined increasingly as good is much like a body builder. If the muscle is exercised then the athlete grows. IF we made this a theological analogy we would say the exercising of the muscle is irrelevant. The athlete is an athlete if he is nothing more than declared one by Him who is in authority to do so. Reason will NEVER grasp that for it is against reason. Only faith will and only faith can when it is declared by someone to do be received. We have to be told again and again this is so, the Gospel, for it is against every part of reason within us. It is simply alien to us. It is infinitely easier for reason to believe in UFO’s than free grace. The Grace of the Cross is the SINGLE item that differentiates true Christianity from every religion, paradigm, philosophy (religious or political), work ethic, you name it in the entire world. It is no wonder it had to come down to us.
The longer I grow in the Christian faith the more I find the reality that faith is purely a gift, it cannot be generated in any sense from within, not the faith that receives the Cross. If you are like me you will find your mind warring against it constantly, “it can’t be that good”, I hear that stuff echo in the back of my mind constantly, “are you sure, that sounds rather incredible”. Even, “You just want off easy.” But you know what occurred to me about that last one one time? It’s simply the old man trying to be good again by chiding one into works, like challenging a bull with a red cape. Because if I say to myself, “no I don’t want off easy”, I’m begging for law. I don’t mean literal voices by the way, thoughts. Those thoughts, right there, are daily tormenting. I never had that when I was an unbeliever, I was quite at peace with myself back then.
When tempted, the way out is always the same whether caving into sin or not; it’s not some “strength” to stop a sin, it’s the Cross for the sin or the weakness in the temptation. When we pray at the end of the Lord’s prayer, “lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”, we are confessing the Cross. We are saying “don’t let us be sifted so easily like wheat as Peter or Job were, I have not the strength to resist it, give me the Cross of Christ.”
Larry H. KY
I particularly appreciate your ability to use analogies to clarify the distinctions between L&G Larry. Another reason that faith cannot be generated from within is due to the fact that “faith” is a synonym for “trust” which is impossible to choose to have without any evidence worthy of trust. The only evidence that Jesus is worthy of trust is our faith according to Hebrews, chapter 12 which, of course, is a gift from God.