Bible Study on John 1:1

                                        Sunday Bible Study on the Gospel of John 1:1

Sunday Bible Study

Topic John 1:1-3

Welcome to the beginning of our Bible study on the Gospel of John. The Lord has written a beautiful and powerful little book through the hand of the Apostle John. I hope you love what is written here as much as the Lord has loved giving it to you. Let us begin with the morning prayer. Please read the following with me:

Morning Prayer: I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

The ext: John 1:1 (ESV) The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

St. John assumes that you are familiar with Matthew, Mark and Luke. That you are familiar with the actions Jesus did from conception to ascension. St. John then goes on to write against false teachings. Some of the false teachings were already evident in the first generation of the Christian church. Other false teachings were to come into the church which are with us today. The main examples of false teachings with us today are Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, Unitarianism and a general religious view call Universalism. Each of these are Trinitarian errors.

John 1:1 takes care of them right off the bat. And the whole Gospel according to St. John is that you may believe that there is only one God and in Jesus Christ He is kind to you. I want to focus on the last phrase first:

...and the Word was God.

I have to teach a little bit of grammar to make this clear.

In good English this phrase may be restated as ...and the Word was a God. The “a” is an indefinite article rather than the definite article “the”. So, if we understand the phrase to mean “a God” then this god is just one of many gods.

However, in good Greek, this phrase does not read “a god” but rather “the God” which makes a world of difference. There is a grammar rule called Colwell's Rule that is demonstrated throughout the New Testament Greek Bible as well as demonstrated in Ancient Greek writings as well, such as Homer.

Bare with me. Colwell discovered that "Definite predicate nouns which precede the verb usually lack the article ... a predicate nominative which precedes the verb cannot be translated as an indefinite or a 'qualitative' noun solely because of the absence of the article; if the context suggests that the predicate is definite, it should be translated as a definite noun ..."

Other Examples:

John 1:14 And the Word became (the) flesh. [Word = the flesh]

Mark 2:28 ”So the Son of Man is (the) lord even of the Sabbath.” [Son of Man = the lord]

Wednesday Matins

                                                                 Matins Service

Oops.  Video malfunction.  Next time I'll turn the camera on before the service start;)

Bible Study on Isaiah 6:1-3

                                                        Bible Study on Isaiah 6:1-3

March 22, 2017                                         Isaiah 6:1-3                                          Pastor Pautz

Morning Prayer: I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept us this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep us this day also from sin and every evil, that all our doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend us, our bodies and souls and all things. Let Your holy angel be with us, that the evil foe may have no power over us. Amen.

The text:

1In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Let us prayer: Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them that, by patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, Your Son our Lord, who live and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Verse 1: In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

In the year that King Uzziah died is more emphatic than the normal – and it came to pass. King Uzziah for part of a year, died, and then the next king came to power. Isaiah began his prophetic work while Uzziah was still king. Side note, Jerome notes that the year Uzziah died, Romulus was born and in a few years Rome is founded.

I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, The Word of the Lord, Jesus, does not come to Isaiah by speaking, such as Jeremiah 1:1, or by dream, such as Jacob in Genesis 28:12. Nor is this a vision of the Lord in the temple created by Solomon, such as Amos 9:1. Rather, Isaiah is taken to the uncreated temple. So, Isaiah is awake and in the Holy of Holies in the uncreated temple and sees the Lord sitting on His throne in bodily form, like Ezekiel 1:26. The throne itself is the uncreated throne unlike the throne of Uzziah which is created. St. John boldly declares that this Lord is Jesus, John 12:41. The incarnation is the fulfillment of all appearances of the Lord as a man in the Old Testament. Here, the Lord transforms Himself into heaven and the temple for angels and saints to see with their eyes. Where is heaven? Heaven is where Jesus is. Where is the heavenly temple? The heavenly temple is the body of Jesus. In particular He is the cornerstone and you are apart of this temple, too.

high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

The Lord both manifest His glory and at the same time veils His glory. The Lord is seated on a throne which is high and lifted up to reveal His glory. The train of His robe fills the temple to hide His glory. One day, at the resurrection and beyond, His glory will be fully revealed to all. He wants you to see His glory. He also wants you to live. He will accomplish both.

Verse 2: Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

Above Him stood the seraphim Above Him does not refer to His head, but His robe and train. They were above the floor to be seen by the saints, but below the head of the Lord to show that they too are created beings subject to the head. Standing above, is how Isaiah saw them. Isaiah saw them use their wings to stand or soar (Numbers 14:14). It is like the references to the sun, moon, and stars as bodies that stand in space (Job 26:7).

Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. Seraphim are six-winged angels. (Cherubim are another kind of angel.) With two wings they flew, seen by angels and saints. With two they covered their faces at the wonderfulness of the Lord's glory. With two they covered their feet at their understanding of how far the creatures of God stand below the Holy One.

Verse 3: And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And one called to another and said This is like how we speak the psalm before the Lord. I say one verse. The congregation says the second verse. In a fuller ceremony of the Sunday liturgy, this would be the role of the choir who represent the angels in our midst (who are high and lifted up – usually in the choir loft). A cantor sings one verse and the choir answers with a second verse. They face the altar, where the Lord is located. The congregation faces the altar too. However, the congregation would be in the role of Isaiah, witnessing what is happening. The pastor is in the “stead and by the command of the Lord” but is not the Lord.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” The LORD is the Holy One. God's glory is His revealed/manifested holiness. God's veiled or hidden glory is also His holiness. All the work of God is to reveal His holiness to more and more people (Habakkuk 2:14). Even we, like Isaiah, are living at a time when God is working to reveal His holiness to all people. The whole earth is full of the glory of the Lord, but one day, all His glory will be revealed. We will see the fullness of the Holy One. Isaiah's favorite name for the Lord is, “The Holy One of Israel”. It occurs 29 times in the book of Isaiah. Twelve times in chapter 1-39. Seventeen times in chapters 40-66. Otherwise, it occurs three times in the Psalms (71:22; 78:41; 89:19) and twice in Jeremiah (50:29; 51:5) and each of those verses include a reference to Isaiah. Do the three uses of “holy” refer to the three persons of the one God? Yes.

This verse found its way into the historic service of the church in the Sanctus (which means holy):

Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabbaoth, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.

Lord of Sabaoth Sabaoth is the Greek form of the Hebrew word for "armies," and is translated in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament by "Lord of hosts," "Lord God of hosts." In the mouth and the mind of an ancient Hebrew, Lord God of Sabaoth was the leader and commander of the armies of the nation, who "went forth with them" (Psalms 44:9) and led them to certain victory over the worshippers of Baal Chemosh. Molech, Ashtaroth and other false gods.

Let us conclude with the Lord's Prayer.

Bible Study Topic - Depression

                                                   Bible Study Topic - Depression

Sunday Bible Study        March 19, 2017        Topic: Depression    Pastor Pautz

Question: What does the church teach regarding depression?

The questions has been asked by a few people this last week. There have been two suicides in the community in the last few months. More than a few congregation members have family members dealing with clinical depression and other mental health issues.

Psalm 91:6 is a verse the desert church fathers discussed regarding what we call depression. The main point here is that depression is real. You may run into people that say depression is not real. You might run into people who hold to the myth that Christians should not be depressed. Or, if a Christian is depressed they hold to the myth that they lack faith. You might run into people who hold to the myth that depressed people are lazy. No, there is such a thing as depression. The question is how do we talk about it. The first step is to acknowledge the depression is real.

However, how would you respond if the question were "What does the church teach about cancer?" Cancer is a physical illness that takes the lives of our loved ones, too. The quick response is that they are not the same. But they are not all that different either.

It is written in Genesis 2:7, "Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” or, as sometimes translated, a living soul. Adam cannot separate his physical health from his mental health. He is a creature of God. Adam is a whole person. And what will happen to all God's creatures in this fallen world? It is written in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”. What comes between sin and death? Well, physical illness and mental illness. I heard a report a few years ago that by 2020 the top three lethal diseases will be heart disease, cancer, and depression. How does depression kill? Suicide.

So, depression is real and it is deadly. Now what?

Some people don't want a diagnosis or a cure. Some people want to ignore what you see as a life threatening problem. Or, they may successfully keep you in the dark until it is too late. What can you do? Pray. Depressed people often cannot receive anything from others. They can't receive a thank you. They can't receive forgiveness. They probably don't want help or will refuse help if it is offered. But you can pray/intercede for others. You can ask God to give them a good gift. Ask that God extend grace and mercy to the depressed one. He will do it! It is then God's problem. Actually, it became God's problem when He baptized the depressed family member or friend.

Jesus is the answer. Jesus is the answer to heart disease, cancer, and depression because Jesus is the answer to sin and death.

The problem is that we don't like that answer. We don't trust God's promises which He had written that we may believe that Jesus takes even these problems through death to the resurrection (John 20:30).

What can a pastor help in such a situation? The pastor speaks God's Word. This brings up the Care of Cure of Souls. It is the special work a pastor does when a person has a physical or mental health issue. I will walk with the depressed person or their caregiver. I will listen. I will pray for them and with them. Often depressed people cannot read very well. It is too hard. So, the Psalms are great. They are short. They are packed with Gospel. The suffering soul is helpless and hopeless in a dark situation. Not a lot of time but frequent visits to listen. Then a short time to conclude with an appropriate prayer; or blessings; or absolution; or Christ's body and blood.

If a person wants help, how might he be helped?

A network of caretakers is best.

See a local doctor to rule out common causes of depressions.

Enter a drug and/or alcohol recovery program. Alcohol causes depression. Substance abuse decreases the ability to cope with stress, relate to other people, and solve personal and emotional problems.

A stress reduction program is helpful.

A good psychologist is a good addition. The psychologist will care for the persons mind by listening and listening and listening and providing tools and exercises to assist healing.

A good psychiatrist is another good addition. The psychiatrist will care for the persons body by listening and providing medication/needed nutrients to assist healing. A general doctor can introduce depression medication but the psychiatrist is trained and licensed to do much more.

Your pastor will care for the persons soul (mind and body) by listening to you, praying with and for you, and giving you God's Word and Sacrament to assist healing. It is wonderful when your psychologist, psychiatrist, and pastor are able to work together. That can happen when permission is given by the depressed person for the team to have a basic level of communication with each other in order to know things are going ok or not. But this can only be done with your permission and a general agreement.

And then Christian friends and loving family members extending kindness and love will help.

So, this is a little bit on a big topic that is close to us all.

In review,

1. Depression is real and it can be deadly.

2. Depression causes an inability to receive from others.

3. There is nothing you can do if the person does not want help.

4. But you can pray, and the Lord will listen and answer your prayers.

5. A network of caregivers is ideal. Help and Hope is always available.

6. Caregivers are easily worn out. Have your own network of caregives to help you too.

I am available to talk with you more individually as you desire.

Next Sunday we begin a study of the Gospel of John. We will start with the beginning verses of chapter 1. Also, this Wednesday morning we begin a study of Isaiah followed by a Lenten meal beginning at 5:30pm and a Lenten Service at 7pm.