Richard Sibbes, Sermons on Canticle, Sermon 7.1

10 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by memoirandremains in Richard Sibbes, Song of Solomon, Uncategorized

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Canticles, Flesh, Richard Sibbes, Song of Solomon, Song of Solomon 5.2

My love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; and how shall I defile them?—Cant. 5:2, 3.

In this sermon, Sibbes addresses the marvel of the Christian life: the believer is inconstant. Even after coming to true faith, the believer is inconstant. If our place before God were dependent upon us, we would never stand. A touchstone of Sibbes’ preaching is the candor with which he addresses this issue. This is a point which needs to be underscored. There is a strain of preaching which hoping to encourage holiness strikes only the note of condemning sin. Without question sin is a horror. It is a shame when we believers do sin. And yet, by speaking only of the horror and shame of sin, such preachers fail to bring about holiness. By striking on the note of warning they become the voice of guilt and discouragement.

Sibbes candidly raises the weakness of the creature. He does not wink at sin. Rather, Sibbes uses the weakness of the creature to exalt the grace of the Saving Creator. In this sermon, Sibbes lays out the manner in which Christ sustains the church on the basis of love. And by demonstrating such love in Christ, draws out the love in the believer. That love draws us onto holiness.

He first begins the sermon, with looking at the quandary of this verse: the lover has come to the door and yet the beloved will not come:

That the life of a Christian is a perpetual conflicting, appears evidently in this book, the passages whereof, joined with our own experiences, sufficiently declare what combats, trials, and temptations the saints are subject unto, after their new birth and change of life; now up, now down, now full of good resolutions, now again sluggish and slow, not to be waked, nor brought forward by the voice of Christ, as it was with the church here. She will not out of her sleep to open unto Christ, though he call, and knock, and stand waiting for entrance.

The fault in believer lies with the flesh:

The flesh of itself is prone enough to draw back, and make excuses, to hinder the power of grace from its due operation in us. She is laid along, as it were, to rest her; yet is not she so asleep, but she discerns the voice of Christ. But up and rise she will not.

Thus we may see the truth of that speech of our Saviour verified, ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,’ John 3:6. The flesh pulls her back: the Spirit would raise her up to open to Christ.

Yet, in the wisdom of God, the weakness of the flesh does not thwart the design of the Savior: sin will be exposed, the creature will redeemed and the Savior will be glorified in his love toward the beloved:

He in the meanwhile makes her inexcusable, and prepares her by his knocking, waiting, and departing; as for a state of further humiliation, so for an estate of further exaltation. But how lovingly doth he speak to her!

Oswald Chambers, The Psychology of Redemption.3

02 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Corinthians, Anthropology, Biblical Counseling, Oswald Chambers

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1 Corinthians 15, 1 Corinthians 15:47, Anthropology, Biblical Counseling, body, Flesh, Oswald Chambers, The Psychology of Redemption

The previous post in this series can be found here:https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/oswald-chamers-the-psychology-of-redemption-2/

Chambers rejects the contention that “flesh” or the body is the seat of corruption:

The first man is of the earth, earthy. (1 Corinthians 15:47)

This is man’s glory, not his shame, because it is in a creature made of the earth that God is going to manifest His glory. We are apt to think that being made of the earth is our humiliation, but it is the very point that is made much of in God’s word. In the Middle Ages it was taught that sin resided in the actual fleshly body, and that therefore the body was a clog and a hindrance. The Bible says that the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, not a thing to be despised. Sin is not in having a body and a nature that needs to be sacrificed; sin is in refusing to sacrifice them at the call of God. Sin is a disposition which rules the body, and regeneration means not only that we need not obey the disposition of sin, but that we can be absolutely delivered from it (Romans 6:6).

This is no insignificant point. If one holds that the corruption or the continued corruption of the human being after conversion rests in the physical body (as do some now, and as has been common in the history of the world), one will look to subdue the physical body by mere regime, and then eventually to escape the body.

Yet, if, as Chambers has it, the trouble is in one’s disposition, the solution will require outside help. In the form where one merely has an unruly set of bones and muscles, there is still an “I” (thinking, willing) who is right and can thus correctly determine in opposition to my body. Yet, if the fault lies in my thinking and willing — if it lies in my heart — the trouble is significantly more serious. There is no autonomous “I” who can correctly chart a course.

A restoration of who we were created to be.

23 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Anthropology, Christology, Union With Christ

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Anthropology, Calvin, Flesh, J. Todd Billings, John Calvin, Union With Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church

Calvin claims that the substance of human nature is good. As he states in the Institutes, the original, created human nature is not only good; it is “united to God.” Indeed Adam, is righteous through a “participation in God.” However, in the fall, the accidental characteristic of sinning is added, alienating human beings from God, from neighbor, and ultimately from themselves. In this fallen state, human beings seek their identity “in themselves” or “in the flesh”. They seek to be human apart from God. But this is simply repeating the sin of Adam- following one’s own wisdom rather than lovingly trusting God. While fallen humans share the accidental characteristic of sinning, this characteristic does not completely vanquish the imago Dei, which Calvin says is a “participation in God.” Again, this characterization of the imago Dei makes sense with Calvin’s view of humanity: to be fully human is to be united to God., and although sin seeks autonomy from God, there is still a trace of this union with or participation in God in all humanity.

In redemption, then, is where Calvin’s Aristotelian distinctions do especially important work. When Paul speaks about being “crucified with Christ” and putting to death the flesh or the old self, is this misanthropic? Does this make salvation a rupture of identity — leaving behind all that we were and taking only what is new? No, Calvin says. The Christian life, involving the mortification of the flesh, is a restoration of who we were created to be.

J. Todd Billings, Union With Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic 2011), 44.

The Restoration

21 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Christology, John Calvin, Union With Christ

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Flesh, image of God, Imago Dei, Institutes of the Christian Religion, J. Todd Billings, John Calvin, Mortification, Union with Christ

Calvin claims that the substance of human nature is good. As he states in the Institutes, the original, created human nature is not only good; it is “united to God.” Indeed Adam, is righteous through a “participation in God.” However, in the fall, the accidental characteristic of sinning is added, alienating human beings from God, from neighbor, and ultimately from themselves. In this fallen state, human beings seek their identity “in themselves” or “in the flesh”. They seek to be human apart from God. But this is simply repeating the sin of Adam- following one’s own wisdom rather than lovingly trusting God. While fallen humans share the accidental characteristic of sinning, this characteristic does not completely vanquish the imago Dei, which Calvin says is a “participation in God.” Again, this characterization of the imago Dei makes sense with Calvin’s view of humanity: to be fully human is to be united to God., and although sin seeks autonomy from God, there is still a trace of this union with or participation in God in all humanity.

In redemption, then, is where Calvin’s Aristotelian distinctions do especially important work. When Paul speaks about being “crucified with Christ” and putting to death the flesh or the old self, is this misanthropic? Does this make salvation a rupture of identity — leaving behind all that we were and taking only what is new? No, Calvin says. The Christian life, involving the mortification of the flesh, is a restoration of who we were created to be.

J. Todd Billings, Union With Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic 2011), 44.

Sin and Self-Reliance

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Mortification, Quotations

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Berkouwer, Flesh, law, Mortification, Quotations, Studies in Dogmatics: Sin

Berkouwer in Studies in Dogmatics: Sin at some length works through the matter of the flesh and law as used in Romans 7 & 8 brings an interesting insight to this issue. Without fully unpacking what is meant by the word “flesh,” he notes that the relationship between sin and the law is one of misuse of the law for improper ends:

He [Paul] was not really interested in sin’s mysterious conflagration, or in sin’s natural aversion to any prohibition and command. He was concerned about sin’s beguilement and seduction by means of using the law (Rom. 7:11). It was not the common revulsion of the law that occupied the Apostle Paul …but only the manipulation of the law for sin’s own purposes and the transformation of the law into an essentially different purpose from what it is.^{^[1]}

He then goes onto explain what sin does with respect to the law, “What is it that sin whispers concering that law? “That I may perform its demands adequately of myself; that I may purge, justify and sanctify myself….Thus, the desire inflamed by the law must be seens as a passion for our own self-glory before the face of God. Here lies the real deception of man’s sin.”[2]

[1] Berkouwer, 174-175.

[2] Berkouwer, 177.

Translation and Comment: Isaiah 40:5-8

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Isaiah

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1 Peter, Flesh, Grass, Hebrew Translation, Isaiah, Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40:5–8 (BHS/WHM 4.2)

⁵ וְנִגְלָ֖ה כְּב֣וֹד יְהוָ֑ה וְרָא֤וּ כָל־בָּשָׂר֙ יַחְדָּ֔ו כִּ֛י פִּ֥י יְהוָ֖ה דִּבֵּֽר׃ ס ⁶ ק֚וֹל אֹמֵ֣ר קְרָ֔א וְאָמַ֖ר מָ֣ה אֶקְרָ֑א כָּל־הַבָּשָׂ֣ר חָצִ֔יר וְכָל־חַסְדּ֖וֹ כְּצִ֥יץ הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃ ⁷ יָבֵ֤שׁ חָצִיר֙ נָ֣בֵֽל צִ֔יץ כִּ֛י ר֥וּחַ יְהוָ֖ה נָ֣שְׁבָה בּ֑וֹ אָכֵ֥ן חָצִ֖יר הָעָֽם׃ ⁸ יָבֵ֥שׁ חָצִ֖יר נָ֣בֵֽל צִ֑יץ וּדְבַר־אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יָק֥וּם לְעוֹלָֽם׃ ס

Isaiah 40:5–8 (ESV)

5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” 6 A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

וְנִגְלָ֖ה כְּב֣וֹד יְהוָ֑ה

And it shall be revealed, the glory of YHWH

The niphal of ngl:

1. to expose oneself (Pax ΕΠΙΦΑΝΕΙΑ 1955:100ff.)2S 620; to be uncovered, to be exposed: foundation Ezk 1314; 2S 2216 / Ps 1816; long skirt Jr 1322, intimate parts of the body Ex 2026 Is 473 Ezk 1636.57 2329 (rd. וְנִגְלְתָה), פֶּשַׁע Ezk 2129, עָוֹן Hos 71, רָעָה Pr 2626, שַׁעֲרֵי מָוֶת Jb 3817; —2. to appear, show Is 499 (|| צֵֽאוּ); to let oneself be seen 1S 148.11 (with אֶל), to become visible Sir 4216 (God) to reveal oneself Gn 357 1S 227 321 Is 2214, his כָּבוֹד Is 405; —3. information is announced Is 231, revealed 1S 37 Is 531 561 Da 101; הַנִּגְלֹת what is disclosed :: הַנִּסְתָּרוֹת Dt 2928; —Is 3812 rd. וְנַגַל (: גלל nif.; Begrich Ps. Hisk. 27f). †

Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, M. E. J. Richardson and Johann Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic ed. (Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill, 1999), 191-92.

NIPHAL.—(1) to be uncovered, to be made naked; Isa. 47:3, “thy nakedness shall be uncovered;” Eze. 13:14; 16:36; 23:29. Also used of a vail taken away, Jer. 13:22.

(2) to be revealed.—(a) used of men and of God; to appear, as if by the removal of a vail, i.q. נִרְאָה; followed by אֶל Gen. 35:7; 1 Sa. 14:8, 11; compare Isa. 53:1, where there follows עַל.—(b) to be manifested, manifest, used of things which were before concealed, Isa. 49:9; Hos. 7:1.—(c) to be declared, followed by לְ and אֶל Isa. 23:1; 1 Sa. 3:7.

Wilhelm Gesenius and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2003), 170.

LXX has “καὶ ὀφθήσεται ἡ δόξα κυρίου”. The idea taught is remarkable: God’s glory will some how be made manifest, will be uncovered. The implication from this single may be, Manifested, revealed in a manner never before experienced. Two texts from John help to convey that concept further:

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. …. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. John 1:1 &18 (ESV)

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—1 John 1:1–2 (ESV)

These texts actually contain more parallel than merely the revelation of God: both of them also entail the Word of God being revealed – communication is also tied to the revelation in Isaiah: There is the call to speak (40:1), a voice calling (40:2), the glory will be surely revealed because God has spoken (4:5), another voice calling and receiving prophecy (4:6).

וְרָא֤וּ כָל־בָּשָׂר֙ יַחְדָּ֔ו

And they shall see, all flesh as one/together

Basar, flesh, which the next verses indicated will fade and wither before God.

כִּ֛י פִּ֥י יְהוָ֖ה דִּבֵּֽר׃

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

What precisely is the relationship between the subordinate and the main clause? It may either give the reason why the main clause will take place – as if a natural correspondence, like a law of nature; or, the rationale for making the statement. It is difficult to decide between these two elements when the speaker is God, since the surety of God’s conduct underscores even natural law.

2. Marks a clause that provides a reason (co-ordinating conjunction)

(i) Provides the reason for a state of affairs by marking the actual reason with כִּי. The causal relation is due to natural laws. כִּי may be translated because. ….

(ii) Provides the reason for a preceding expression or expressions by marking with כִּי the motivation given by speakers to explain something they have said. The causal relation is thus not due to natural laws but is due to the speaker’s own reasoning. כִּי can usually also be translated for.

Christo Van der Merwe, Jackie Naudé, Jan Kroeze et al., A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar, electronic ed. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), 301-02.

ק֚וֹל אֹמֵ֣ר קְרָ֔א וְאָמַ֖ר

A voice calling, Call and he said …

אֹמֵ֣ר

Qal participle: saying

קְרָ֔א

Imperative: Cry!

The accent marks a disjunction:

4 b. (֔) זָקֵף קָטוֹן Zâqēph qāṭôn. The names refer to their musical character. As a disjunctive, Little Zâqēph is by nature stronger than Great Zâqēph; but if they stand together, the one which comes first is always the stronger.

Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius, Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, ed. E. Kautzsch and Sir Arthur Ernest Cowley, 2d English ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910), 60.

וְאָמַ֖ר

And/then he/it said

Delitzsch notes that it is not I said, but he said: “so that the person asking the question is not the prophet himself, but an ideal person” (143).

מָ֣ה אֶקְרָ֑א

What shall I cry?

The impf. is employed to express actions which are contingent or depending on something preceding. The shades of sense of impf. in this use of it are manifold, corresponding to Eng. will (of volition), shall (of command), may and can (of possibility or permission), am to, in the present; and to would, should, might, could, was to, in the past or indirect speech. Particularly (1) in interrogative sentences;

A. B. Davidson, Introductory Hebrew Grammar Hebrew Syntax, 3d ed. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1902), 64.

Westerman following Luther would translate this, What shall I preach? (41).

כָּל־הַבָּשָׂ֣ר חָצִ֔יר

All the flesh [is] grass

“Men living in the flesh are universally impotent, perishing, limited; God, on the contrary (ch. xxxi.3), is the omnipotent, eternal, all-determining; and like Himself, so His word, which, regarded as the vehicle and utterance of His willing and thinking, is not something separate from Himself, and there is the same as He” (Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary On the Prophecies of Isaiah, trans. James Martin B.A. Clark’s Foreign Theological Library (Edinburgh: Murray and Gibb, 1875), 2:143). Young writes, “[M]an is frail like the grass, and only the Word of the Lord endures forever” (32). And, “Men of flesh are weak and mortal; their life is brief and soon comes to an end” (33).

Delitzsch, Franz Biblical Commentary On the Prophecies of Isaiah. Translated by James Martin B.A. Vol. 2. Clark’s Foreign Theological Library. Edinburgh: Murray and Gibb, 1875.

וְכָל־חַסְדּ֖וֹ כְּצִ֥יץ הַשָּׂדֶֽה

And all its hesed like a flower of the field

The great problem here is the translation of hesed:

…1. joint obligation between relatives, friends, host and guest, master and servant; closeness, solidarity, loyalty: a) חֶסֶד and בְּרִית (שֹׁמֵר הַבְּ׳ וְהַח׳ Dt 79, with שָׁמַר 712); בּ׳ comes about by a ceremony ח׳ results from the closer relationship between two people, the obligations are largely the same; ח׳ וֶאֱמֶת Gn 2427.49 and אֱמוּנָה וְח׳ Ps 8925 lasting loyalty, faithfulness; עָשָׂה ח׳ to show loyalty Gn 2123 Jos 212 Ju 124 835 1S 156 208 2S 38 91.7 102 Ru 18 1C 192; b) ח׳ exists between a son and a dying father Gn 4729, a wife and a husband Gn 2013 (cf. Jr 22 || אַהֲבָה), relatives Ru 220, guests Gn 1919, friends 1S 208 2S 91, people who do each other a service Ju 124, king and people 2S 38 2C 2422; c) > esp.: אִישׁ ח׳ confidant Pr 1117, cj. אִישׁ חַסְדְּךָ your faithful servant Dt 338 (alt. favourite) אַנְשֵׁי ח׳ the godly Is 571; מַלְכֵי ח׳ loyal kings 1K 2031; אִישׁ חַסְדּוֹ each one’s faithfulness Pr 206; d) community > protection Ps 1442 (prp. חָסְנִי), > favour Ezr 29.17 (חֵן וָח׳), ח׳ לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ the favour of the king Ezr 728; תּוֹרַת ח׳ kind teaching Pr 3126; charm (of flowers) Is 406 (cf. MHb. חסודה lovely, cj. חֶמְדּוֹ); —2. ח׳ in God’s relationship with the people or an individual, faithfulness, goodness, graciousness: a) ח׳ י׳ Ps 335 10317, ח׳ אֱלֹהִים 2S 93 Ps 5210; ח׳ עֶלְיוֹן 218; לְעוֹלָם חַסדּוֹ Jr 3311 Ps 1361-26 1005 1061 1071 1181-4.29 Ezr 311; cj. Ps 44 (rd. חַסדּוֹ לִי) and 122 (rd. חֶסֶד), בְּחַסְדְּךָ in your faithfulness (to me) 14312; mercy חָפֵץ ח׳ :: אַף Mi 718; b) עָשָׂה ח׳ to show faithfulness with עִם Ru 18, with לְ Ex 206 and above (→ 1a); שָׁמַר ח׳ Dt 79 Da 94 and נָצַר ח׳ to keep faithfulness Ex 347 זָכַר ח׳ to remember Ps 983, עָזַב ח׳ מֵעִם to withdraw faithfulness Gn 2427; c) God is רַב ח׳ abounding in faithfulness Ex 346 Nu 1418 Jl 213 Jon 42 Ps 865.15 1038 Neh. 917; —3. pl. חֲסָדִים, חֲסָדַי etc. the individual actions resulting from solidarity: a) (of people) godly action, achievements: by Nehemiah Neh 1314, Hezekiah 2C 3232, Josiah 3526; b) (God’s) proofs of mercy Gn 3211 Is 637 Ps 892 Lam 322; חַסְדֵי דָוִיד mercies shown to David Is 553 2C 642; רַחֲמִים וַחֲסָדִים Ps 256; —Ps 523 rd. חָסִיד, Pr 2028b rd. בַּצֶּדֶק (?).

Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, M. E. J. Richardson and Johann Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic ed. (Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill, 1999), 336-37.

(1) in a good sense, zeal towards any one, love, kindness, specially—(a) of men amongst themselves, benignity, benevolence, as shown in mutual benefits; mercy, pity, when referring to those in misfortune, Gen. 21:23; 2 Sam. 10:2 (LXX. often ἔλεος); Job 6:14. The expression often occurs, עָשָׂה חֶסֶד עִם to act kindly towards, Gen. loc. cit.; 2 Sa. 3:8; 9:1, 7; also followed by אֵת Zec. 7:9; עַל 1 Sa. 20:8; more fully, חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת עִם, עָשָׂה Gen. 24:49; 47:29; Josh. 2:14; 2 Sa. 9:3, אֶעֱשֶׂה עִמּוֹחֶסֶד אֱלֹהִים “I will act kindly towards him like unto God.” נָטָה חֶסֶד לְ to turn, or incline, kindness upon any one, Gen. 39:21; more fully, Ezr 7:28, עָלַי הִטֶּה חֶסֶד לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ “(God) turned kindness upon me before the king,” and Dan. 1:9, וַיִּתֵּן הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת־דָנִיֵּאל לְחֶסֶד “and God caused that Daniel should obtain favour.”—(b) piety of men towards God. אַנְשֵׁי חֶסֶד=חֲסִידִים the pious saints, Isa. 57:1.—(c) the grace, favour, mercy of God towards men. Psalm 5:8; 36:6; 48:10, etc. It is often joined with אֱמֶת (see אֱמֶת No. 2) constant or abiding favour. The same expressions likewise occur as under letter a, as עָשָׂה חֶסֶד עִם Gen. 24:12, 14; followed by לְ Ex. 20:6; Deut. 5:10; עָשָׂה חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת עִם 2 Sa. 2:6; 15:20. Pl. חֲסָדִים mercies or benefits (of God), Ps. 89:2, 50; 107:43; Isa. 55:3, חַסְדֵי דָוִד הַנֶּאֱמָנִים “the sure mercies of David,” abiding mercies such as were bestowed on David [or rather, which were securely promised to David]. Figuratively, God himself is called חֶסֶד q. d. die Huld, Liebe. Ps. 144:2; Jon. 2:9.—Once, like its synonym חֵן, it seems to signify grace in the sense of beauty, Isaiah 40:6. LXX. δόξα, and so 1 Pet. 1:24.

(2) in a bad sense, zeal, ardour against any one, envy, hence reproach (see root No. 2). Prov. 14:34; Lev. 20:17. Some would also place here Job 6:14.

(3) [Hesed], pr.n. m. 1 Ki. 4:10.

Wilhelm Gesenius and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2003), 293-94.

There is little directly in the passage which would explain how to precisely translate the word: Does it refer to the hesed among those of the flesh? Or, the hesed of men toward God? That is, men are not fickle and in their profession and covenant?

חסדו, “its loyalty,” is a word that is often used to speak of “solidarity” in covenant relations (N. Glueck, Hesed in the Bible, trans. A. Gottschalk [Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1967]). The claim is that humans are not capable of preserving loyalty for long (see Note 6.d.).

John D. W. Watts, vol. 25, Isaiah 34–66, Revised Edition, Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2005), 611.

An extensive disucssion of the word

For centuries the word ḥesed was translated with words like mercy, kindness, love. The LXX usually uses eleos “mercy,” and the Latin misericordia. The Targum and Syriac use frequently a cognate of ṭob. The root is not found in Akkadian or Ugaritic. The lexicons up through BDB and GB (which said Liebe, Gunst, Gnade, love, goodness, grace) are similar. KB however is the “mutual liability of those … belonging together.”

In 1927 Nelson Glueck, shortly preceded by I. Elbogen, published a doctoral dissertation in German translated into English by A. Gottschalk, Hesed in the Bible with an introduction by G. A. LaRue which is a watershed in the discussion. His views have been widely accepted. In brief, Glueck built on the growing idea that Israel was bound to its deity by covenants like the Hittite and other treaties. He held that God is pictured as dealing basically in this way with Israel. The Ten Commandments, etc. were stipulations of the covenant, Israel’s victories were rewards of covenant keeping, her apostasy was covenant violation and God’s hesed was not basically mercy, but loyalty to his covenant obligations, a loyalty which the Israelites should also show. He was followed substantially by W. F. Lofthouse (1933), N. H. Snaith (1944), H. W. Robinson (1946), Ugo Masing (1954), and many others.

There were others, however, who disagreed. …

On the meaning of our word ḥesed it is convenient to start, as G. and Sak. have done, with the secular usage, i.e. between man and man. Glueck argues that ḥesed is practiced in an ethically binding relationship of relatives, hosts, allies, friends and rulers. It is fidelity to covenantal obligations real or implied. Sakenfeld goes over the same material and concludes that indeed a relationship is present (love almost necessitates a subject-object relation) but that the ḥesed is freely given. “Freedom of decision” is essential. The help is vital, someone is in a position to help, the helper does so in his own freedom and this “is the central feature in all the texts” (p. 45).

Also Laban’s willingness to send Rebekah to Isaac was not from any covenant obligation (though G. cites the appeal to providence in v. 50). It was a kindness to a long-lost relative. He could easily have said “no.” The beautiful story of Ruth is tarnished by considering Ruth’s action as motivated by contractual obligations. The Lord had no obligation to get the widows new husbands in Moab (1:8–9). Ruth went with Naomi from pure love. Boaz recognized her action as goodness in 2:11–12 and calls it ḥesed in 3:10. … Other examples must be omitted, but they are similar. All parties agree that in Est 2:9, 17 the word is used of favor, kindness, but some try to make this usage unusual being post-exilic.

When we come to the ḥesed of God, the problem is that of course God was in covenant relation with the patriarchs and with Israel. Therefore his ḥesed can be called covenant ḥesed without contradiction. But by the same token God’s righteousness, judgment, fidelity, etc. could be called covenant judgment, etc. The question is, do the texts ascribe his ḥesed to his covenants or to his everlasting love’? …

Sakenfeld nicely brings together the several passages dependent on Ex 34:6–7. They are: Num 14:18–19; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 103:8; 145:8 (cf. 9 and 10); Joel 2:13; and Jon 4:2. Of these passages, only Ps 86:15 includes the word ʾemet after ḥesed. They all speak of the love of the Lord and some mention his forgiveness. None specifically ground the ḥesed in covenant.

The phrase ḥesed and ʾemet “truth” mentioned above is thought by some to argue for the concept of loyalty or fidelity in ḥesed. It occurs some twenty-five times with about seven more in less close connection

It should be mentioned that ḥesed is also paired about fifteen times with nouns of mercy like raḥûm, e.g. Ps 103:4; Zech 7:9 (and cf. Ex 34:6–7 above), ḥēn, e.g. Gen 19:19; Ps 109:12, tanḥûm, Ps 94:18–19, etc. These instances usually stand as paired nouns not really in an adjectival relation. The implication is that ḥesed is one of the words descriptive of the love of God.

So, it is obvious that God was in covenant relation with Israel, also that he expressed this relation in ḥesed, that God’s ḥesed was eternal (Note the refrain of Ps 136)—though the ḥesed of Ephraim and others was not (Hos 6:4). However, it is by no means clear that ḥesed necessarily involves a covenant or means fidelity to a covenant. Stoebe argues that it refers to an attitude as well as to actions. This attitude is parallel to love, raḥûm goodness, ṭôb, etc. It is a kind of love, including mercy, ḥannûn, when the object is in a pitiful state. It often takes verbs of action, “do,” “keep,” and so refers to acts of love as well as to the attribute. The word “lovingkindness” of the KJV is archaic, but not far from the fulness of meaning of the word.^{^[1]}

LXX The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament in Greek

BDB Brown, Driver, Briggs, A Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1905

GB W. Gesenius, F. Buhl, Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch, 17 ed. 1915

KB L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, 2nd ed., Eng.-Ger., 1958

KJV King James Version of the Bible

^{^[1]} R. Laird Harris, “698 חסד” In , in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr. and Bruce K. Waltke, electronic ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 305-07.

The LXX has doxa (which is quoted by the NT, 1 Pet. 1:24), φωνὴ λέγοντος Βόησον, καὶ εἶπα Τί βοήσω; Πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος, καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου, Isaiah 40:6 (LXX). The MT has “his” (to correspond to flesh) while the LXX has “of human beings” [“man” – but not male as opposed to female]. Delitzsch, following the LXX, writes “Chasdo is the charm or gracefulness of outward appearance” (Delitzsch, 143).

Calvin comments:

All the grace of it. Some translate חסדו (chăsdō) “his glory;” others, “his kindness;” but I have preferred the word “grace,” by which I mean everything that procures honour and esteem to men. Yet a passive signification may also be admitted; as if the Prophet had said, that all that is excellent and worthy of applause among men is the absolute kindness of God. Thus David calls God “the God of his kindness,” (Ps. 59:10, 17,) because he acknowledges him to be the author of all blessings, and ascribes it to his grace that he has obtained them so largely and abundantly. It is indeed certain that חסד (chĕsĕd) here denotes all that is naturally most highly valued among men, and that the Prophet condemns it for vanity, because there is an implied contrast between the ordinary nature of mankind and the grace of regeneration.

John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), Is 40:6.

The translators take various approaches:

‎ESV	‎NASB95	‎NIV	‎NIV84	‎NET	‎HCSB
‎‎Is 40:6 A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its *beauty* is like the flower of the field.	‎‎Is 40:6 A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?” All flesh is grass, and all its *loveliness* is like the flower of the field.	‎‎Is 40:6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their *faithfulness* is like the flowers of the field.	‎‎Is 40:6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.	‎‎Is 40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!” Another asks, “What should I cry out?” The first voice responds: “All people are like grass, and all their *promises* are like the flowers in the field.	‎‎Is 40:6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!” Another said, “What should I cry out?” “All humanity is grass, and all its *goodness* is like the flower of the field.

יָבֵ֤שׁ חָצִיר֙ נָ֣בֵֽל צִ֔יץ

And it dries up the grass and it crumbles away a flower

Understanding the frailty of humanity:

Some commentators refer this to the Assyrians, as if the Prophet, by extenuating their power and wealth, and industry and exertions, or rather by treating these as they had no existence, freed the minds of the Jews from terror. They bring out the meaning in this manner, “If you are terrified at the strength of men, remember that they are flesh, which quickly gives way through its own weakness. But their error is soon afterwards refuted by the context, in which the Prophet expressly applies it to the Jews themselves. We ought carefully to observe that man, with his faculties, on account of which he is accustomed to value himself so highly, is wholly compared to a flower. All men are fully convinced of the frailty of human life, and on this subject heathen writers have argued at great length; but it is far more difficult to root out the confidence which men entertain through a false opinion of their wisdom; for, if they imagine that they have either knowledge or industry beyond others, they think that they have a right to glory in them. But he shews that in man there is nothing so excellent as not to fade quickly and perish.

John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), Is 40:6.

כִּ֛י ר֥וּחַ יְהוָ֖ה נָ֣שְׁבָה בּ֑וֹ

For the Spirit of YHWH blows [frightens] it.

The characteristic of grass and flowers that dominates the comparison is their inability to withstand the “spirit of YHWH” that “blows against it.” The image plays on the double meaning of רוח as both “wind” and “spirit.” The description is a bitter reminder that everything that has happened to Israel has been attributed to YHWH. It implies that because one is unable to stand against God one also cannot or should not be asked to stand with God. Because the people are only grass, the task is useless or hopeless. העם, “the people,” in the singular is used in Isaiah to refer to Israel (40:1; 42:22; 43:8, 20, 21; 47:6; 49:13; 51:7, 16, 22; 52:4, 5, 6).

John D. W. Watts, vol. 25, Isaiah 34–66, Revised Edition, Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2005), 611.

The ki explains why the grass withers.

§39.6. בְּ

Approximately 60% of the cases where this preposition is used in the Hebrew Bible have a locative connotation while 15% have a temporal connotation. The examples below, however, attest to the fact that בְּ in BH has a more general meaning than ‘in’ or ‘within’. It is a preposition that is not very specialized semantically. (Cf. Jenni 1992 for further details.)

1. Indicates localization

The translation of the spacial equivalent of the preposition בְּ is more or less ‘in x’.

(i) Indicates spatial localization—the so-called beth locale

a. In or at a place

d. Indicates the route of a verb of movement: through

Christo Van der Merwe, Jackie Naudé, Jan Kroeze et al., A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar, electronic ed. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), 279-80.

אָכֵ֥ן חָצִ֖יר הָעָֽם

Surely is the grass, the people.

Surely the people is grass. The Prophet added this, that all might know that he was not speaking of foreigners, but of that people which gloried in the name of God; for the Jews might have thought that they were more excellent, and held a higher rank than other men, and that on this account they ought to be exempted from the common lot. He therefore addresses them expressly and by name, that they may not claim anything for themselves above others; as if he had said, that they would act wisely if, through a conviction of their poverty, they should cast away all confidence in themselves. In a word, the Prophet, after having mentioned consolation, shews in what way men must be prepared to receive it; for they are not capable of it till they have formerly been reduced to nothing. Our hardness must therefore be softened, our haughtiness must be cast down and laid low, our boasting must be put to shame, and our hearts must be subdued and humbled, if we wish to receive with any advantage the consolations which the prophets bring to us by the command of God.

John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), Is 40:7.

יָבֵ֥שׁ חָצִ֖יר נָ֣בֵֽל צִ֑יץ

The grass withers, a flower crumbles

וּדְבַר־אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יָק֥וּם לְעוֹלָֽם

And the Word of our God is established/stands to the age (forever).

Disjuntive waw:

In narrative, ו+“non-verb” (disjunctive) clauses have one main function—to show that a particular situation or event is not consecutive to the preceding one. Instead, they may give background information necessary to understanding the events in a narrative, or describe parallel or contrasting situations or actions. Disjunctive clauses can be nominal or verbal. In narrative, they often have participial predicates or qatal. Qatal in these clauses commonly refers to events that preceded the main narrative (“flashbacks”), or to background conditions that underlie and help explain the narrative.

Frederic Clarke Putnam, Hebrew Bible Insert: A Student’s Guide to the Syntax of Biblical Hebrew (Quakertown, PA: Stylus Publishing, 2002), 43-44.

The Word of the Lord:

12.3 A noun in the construct state never has the definite article.

» If the last noun is definite, the noun in construct is also definite.

“the horse of the king”

סוּס־הַמֶּלֶךְ

“the soul of the prophet”

נֶפֶשׁ־הַנָּבִיא

Personal names are definite, so יוֹם־יְהוָה is translated “the day of the Lord.”

Mark David Futato, Beginning Biblical Hebrew (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 68.

Keep the Heart.6

20 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, John Flavel, Puritan

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Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Flesh, John Flavel, Keep the heart, Proverbs, proverbs, Proverbs 4:23, Puritan, Self-Examination

Watch for Indwelling Sin (The Flesh).

We are born with a traitor within the walls of our heart. Indwelling sin is present at birth, and it will stay with us throughout our lives. Sin will betray us to our temptations. Sin will open the gate to any corruption from outside.

We don’t need Satan to sin. We can sin on our own. Look at Genesis 6:5: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5, ESV) And what does God say after the Flood? “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (Genesis 8:21, ESV).

So then where do our sins come? What is the source of our anger or lust?

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:14-15, ESV)

In Southern California, powerful dry winds blow from off the of the desert and rage across the hills and through the valleys. After a few days of blowing, the summer brush becomes perfectly dry. To make matters even more dangerous, certain plants actually contain chemicals which ready them to burst into flames. Thus, by October of a dry year the least spark will explode in the grass. In moments, the hillsides will be raging with fire.

The sin of our heart is ready to burst into flames of lust and anger. In California, when the land becomes dry and dangerous, campfires are banned. Likewise, our dangerous heart is best kept from sparks if we want to avoid a fire.

As Thomas Manton writes: “We proceed every step to heaven by conflict and contest, because sin is always at hand, ready to assault us and taint us ; so that a serious Christian cannot but take himself to be still in danger.”

The Doctrine and Practice of Mortification.62

19 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Mortification, Puritan, Repentance, Thomas Wolfall

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Biblical Counseling, Contrition, Discipleship, Flesh, Mortification, Puritan, Repentance, Sin, The Doctrine and Practice of Mortification, Thomas Wolfall

CHAPTER 14

Showing the Great Necessity of Contrition, Which is Fourfold[1]

First: The Necessity of a Broken Heart

The second thing is the necessity of a broken heart. In point of mortification, there is necessitas precepti [a necessary precept] of God’s command: he has commanded us to do this duty, he has commanded us to mourn. They should weep as a Virgin girded with sackcloth, for the husband of her youth, and so turn to the Lord (Joel 1:8): Where there is the greatest love, there should be the greatest sorrow. Now the first love is the greatest love, and therefore the first loss does require the greatest sorrow.

Sorrow Shows the Grievous Nature of our Sin

What does show unto us that nothing should be more grievous to us than our sins, seeing God has commanded it as a things necessary to this work, why should we not do it? Again, we are enjoined shame, thence it was in the Law, that when they had transgressed the commandments of the Lord, they used to put sackcloth on their loins and pour ashes on their heads, being tokens of shame and sorrow (Neh. 9:1; Jer 48:37). Again, we are commanded to be sore [extremely] displeased with our sin. David’s heart was hot within him (Ps. 39:3). And the heart of Josiah was melted at the abomination of those times and the great transgression against God’s law. This is that the Lord does require.

^{^[1]} This chapter continues the second element of “near” mortification: Repentance.

The Flesh

02 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Preaching

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1 Peter, Faith, Flesh, Galatians, Hope, love, Preaching, Romans

(Draft of a sermon on the doctrine of the “flesh” in the NT):

Romans 7:14–25 (ESV)

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Mark Twain attacked slavery and racism and plain foolishness in his brutal and kind and sad and funny novel Huckleberry Finn. When story opens, Huckleberry Finn, the son of the town drunk has become quite rich by finding a treasure. The rich and kind widow Douglas takes the poor, uncivilized Huckleberry Finn to live in her home. She provides him food and clothes and an education – which Huckleberry recognizes as kindness, but her kindness does not always fit comfortably. On occasion he returns to his former life for a night or two – his old ways seem more comfortable and fitting; his filthy clothes and foul food suit him at times. This back-and-forth between worlds continues until his Pa shows up and to retrieve the newly rich Huckleberry. Eventually, Pa kidnaps Huckleberry and locks him in a cabin in the forest – until Huckleberry manages to escape down the river.

The picture is not perfect, but it helps. You Christian escape your former life, but your former life does not leave. At times you flirt with your old life – innocently it seems. But then the vicious drunken Flesh shows up in your bedroom demands servitude. Sometimes the Flesh even seems to get the upper hand and you find yourself locked in a prison. Then you repent and escape. But however far you run, Flesh turns up again – sometimes to tempt, sometime to drive – but always to move you to fresh sin and sorrow and shame. When you repent, returning to sin seems an impossibility! Yet, when Flesh wraps a greedy hand about your wrist ….

Such a wearisome labor; such driving forward and falling back! Such hope and shame.

Do you know that – at all? Do you ever look at your hands and think, Jesus is right – it would be better to cut these off. Do you ever wish your eyes could be gone from your body? Do you ever peer in your heart and sink in sorrow for the unending belch of sin welling up from the dark, deathly deep?

When you read in Romans 6:7 that you have been freed from, do you wonder if Paul has lied? Have you read 1 John from front to back and thought, it must be that I do not know him – for I so fail to keep his commandments. What do you think, when you read the Savior’s words of John 15:10

If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love ….

Do you ever cry to God in despair:

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

If you call yourself a Christian and yet have not known a sorrow and shame for sin; if you do not know the struggle with flesh, then I wonder at your claim. The New Testament constantly warns and instructs us concerning a conflict with the Flesh:

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11 (ESV)

Not just Peter, but John warns against the flesh:

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15–17 (ESV)

Paul most famously raises the war of the flesh:

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. Galatians 5:16–17 (ESV)

Now if we do not understand what the Bible teaches about the flesh, we will have no idea how to respond. We live like a solider in Afghanistan who patrols a village in which he cannot know who is villager and who the enemy solider.

Christian books and Christian lore give all sorts of direction and advice concerning the “flesh”. I have been told that I have two natures – I have an old nature and a new nature. I have been told that I still have a sin nature. I have been told my “flesh” is my physical body. I have been told my flesh consists of my old habits. And so my “sin nature” makes me sin. Or my body makes me sin. Or my old habits make me sin.

The problem comes from failing to pay attention to what the Bible says about such things. It is true that sometimes – particularly in the Old Testament, the word translated in English as “flesh” refers to your physical body. There are places where flesh seems related to ways of thinking – like habits. There are places where your flesh almost seems like someone else. If we are not careful with our reading, we will make a mess of this idea. If we get the concept of “flesh” wrong, we will have all sorts of problems in understanding our sin.

To understand the doctrine of the flesh, we will need to search our Bibles from back to front. To keep you from being overwhelmed with the number of texts, I am going to post my sermon notes in case you would like to review the matter at more length.

Let’s consider two texts which help clarify our thinking. Turn to John 3, this is the famous passage where Jesus explains to Nicodemus that we must be born again to see and enter the Kingdom of God. Start reading in verse 6:

⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:6–7 (ESV)

To be born of flesh merely means to be born – it is our natural state: we all begin as “flesh”. The necessary rebirth comes of the Spirit. If you read a text like that you might think that “flesh” means your physical body. But Jesus did not say that – the words “physical” or “body” are not in the text. Lay this text alongside Romans 8 verse 9:

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Romans 8:9 (ESV)

If “flesh” means your body, then Paul says that when the Spirit of God dwells in you, you lose your physical body. That is self-evidently untrue.

Paul is making a logical argument: He explains that you have the Spirit or you do not. If you have the Spirit, you are not in the flesh. Which implies that if you do not have the Spirit, you are in the flesh: That is very similar to what Jesus told Nicodemus.

When the “flesh” is used as source of sin, it is typically put in contrast to the Holy Spirit. This will give us a basic definition of “flesh”: it means a human being without the Spirit. We will develop that definition a bit as we examine the appropriate texts.

There is a second element: It is not the “flesh” by itself which leads to sin. It is the way in which we relate to flesh that leads to sin. Peter writes about the “desires” of the “lusts” of the flesh. John writes about the “lusts” of the flesh. Paul in Romans 8 explains that it is a mind set on the flesh that leads to sin. In Galatians 5, Paul writes that sin comes from walking according to the flesh.

Here is our basic doctrine: Sin flows from the believer walking according to the flesh – Sin results from living independently of the Spirit. This is found in Romans 8:-8:

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:5–8 (ESV)

From that doctrine, we draw this conclusion: We cannot kill sin by our own efforts. In fact it is trying to live from our own effort that leads to sin. Rather, the Holy Spirit working in us puts sin to death. We see this doctrine stated plainly in Romans 8:13:

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

This doctrine works like one of the great cables that runs from the beginning to the end of the Bible and holds the parts together. The question of “flesh” starts in the Garden and runs through resurrection and New Creation. It relates to sin and justification and sanctification and glorification. It has to do with how we treat our family, how we do our work, what we eat and drink. It concerns our worship and our sin. Therefore, when you leave this morning, there will be more unsaid than said on the topic.

I have a modest goal: To show some of what the Bible means by “flesh” and how we can use that knowledge to grow in godliness.

This will a story of sorts with three basic parts:

Part One: First, How did human beings come to be something called “the flesh”? Or, What Went Wrong. Here is a subtitle How We Fell From Genesis 2 to Romans 1

God makes Adam. God puts Adam into a Garden. Adam is a priest and a king. He speaks directly to God. God speaks directly to Adam. Heaven is not far away from earth. Adam rules over all the creation as God has commanded. God gives Adam a wife. God says that it is all very good.

God gives Adam one command:

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16–17 (ESV)

To live, Adam must respond with faith and obedience: True faith always entails obedience – indeed, what we believe to be true will always control behavior. Sin in practice always stems from sin in unbelief.

We don’t need to speculate about the tree and its fruit. The matter is plain: the fruit of the tree conveys some knowledge – which God calls “good and evil”. To eat of it produces death.

In an almost comically contrary manner, the Devil appears and denies that they will die:

For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:5 (ESV)

Consider carefully the proposition, because it lies at the heart of what this concept of flesh: The human beings wanted to live independently of their Creator.

Write this down:

They wanted knowledge and life without God.

And so they lose knowledge of God and life in an instant. Humanity becomes alienated, separated from the life of God. That is the flesh. When we live without knowledge of God and subject to death we will sin. A fish without water, a fire without air, a man without God will all die.

Thus, the tragedy of human history: God forced Adam and Eve from the Garden. God sentenced them to death, and death now hangs over the entire human race. To be born is to be born under a curse. To breathe is to be an enemy of God. It live is to live without hope.

Such a dungeon is the great globe. We are born into a cemetery.

We cannot turn to God, for he is our enemy. And the devil – the ruler of the prince of the air, as Paul calls him; the lords over mankind. Hebrews 2:15 explains the devil keeps men in lifelong slavery through fear of death. Oh, to be ignorant of God is to be subject to death – and to be subject to such ignorance and fear is to wallow in sin.

This is the state of “flesh”. The flesh is the human being without the life-giving word of God. To be alienated from the knowledge of God is to be alienated from the life of God. Human beings separated from God are filled with wickedness and then they die. As Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 9:3:

Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. Ecclesiastes 9:3 (ESV)

The madness of the human heart, the blindness and stupidity and death which make up human history all comes out of the rejection of God.

Since God has become the enemy of humanity, humanity has stuffed its ears will not hear the word of God. Listen as Paul explains in Romans 1:18:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Get this plainly: God is the enemy of human beings. God has plainly revealed his existence – and God has made plain his wrath. Rather than fleeing from the wrath to come, rather than fleeing to salvation in Jesus Christ human beings suppress the knowledge of God:

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. Romans 2:4–5 (ESV)

Human culture, civilization, politics is all designed to protect us from the sin which flows directly from rebellion against God. Would we need police officers, if everyone loved their neighbor? Would we need armies, if all men and women were subject to Christ as King? No, rather than reconcile to God, run and hide from God. We suppress the knowledge of God. But this suppression is little better than some 12 year old boys who decided to spend the evening in a cemetery. They claim no fear, but they are in abject terror. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his sermon “Fig Leaves” on Genesis 3:7-9 explains:

And the whole tragedy of the human race today is that is in this contradictory position. We say we are not afraid, and yet we are terrified. We say we do not believe in sin and in God, but we have a sense of condemnation. We have a voice within us that accuses us and condemns us. We are filled with a sense of shame. We are unhappy. …The stolen fruit is not a pleasant as we had thought. A kind of spiritual indigestion follows the eating of it. Somehow we cannot get away it with. If we could, of course, we would not need any psychologists (53).

When Adam sinned, we turned from God in terror. We continually suppress the knowledge of God. We must manage our guilt and shame before God. We need to manage knowledge about God, because we are faced with death.

The Devil promised knowledge and life – yet by sin we got ignorance and death. In fact, by seeking to force God out of our hearts and minds, we find ourselves subject to even greater corruption and ignorance. As Paul explains in the remainder of chapter one, the suppression of the knowledge of God leads to sin and death. Follow with me as I read Romans 1, 21-25, 28 & 32:

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. Romans 1:21–25 (ESV)

Now 28:

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Finally, 32:

Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

There is the flesh, my friends: By suppressing the knowledge of God and by refusing to acknowledge God rightly, the thinking of man because futile and the heart becomes darkened. This is the same as what Paul writes in Ephesians 4:17-18:

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. Ephesians 4:17–18 (ESV)

You must see the connection: Willful ignorance of God results in a corrupt mind and heart. Human beings were built to live in dependence upon God, in relationship with God. When that relationship breaks, nothing else can work correctly. Plants are built to grow in the sunshine. When you put them into a basement, they die. Fish are built to live in the water. Drag a fish onto shore and it will die. Human beings were built to worship God. When you cut them off from God, they fall into futility, death and sin.

The human being all alone, without true knowledge of God, without the life of God – the foolish human being, worshiping the creature and subject to death is what Paul means by the word “flesh”. When you understand that “flesh” does not mean your physical body, but it really means you as a creature, your body and soul, your heart and mind as a creature living independently of the Creator, you will better understand why we can continue to sin – even after we become a Christian.

If I would put our problem in a nutshell, I would call it a lack of faith – we do not trust God, we do not hear God – and so lacking the life giving words of God, we die.

Part Two: Faith Leads to Life

Our trouble is not that God has not spoken – it is that we have not heard. Our hearts of stone – which is another image used by the Bible – cannot, will not receive the word of God. Yet, when the Spirit casts the seed into our heart and causes it to grow we come to life. Listen to how Peter combines the image of the word of God and dying flesh:

23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:23–25 (ESV)

The flesh is nothing – it withers and falls. But the word of God in the heart of men and women comes to life and remains forever. The word preached, as Peter also writes, is by the “Holy Spirit sent from heaven”. As the Savior says,

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. John 6:63 (ESV)

The flesh alone can do nothing: it cannot hear the words of God. Indeed, it suppresses the word of God. But the Spirit takes the words and brings life. The Spirit operates faith in the heart, it opens the eyes of the heart and the heart receives the words.

Do you see that this process is precisely the opposite of Adam’s sin? Adam rejected the words of God – he disbelieved and disobeyed – which resulted in death. Thereafter, Adam’s children rejected the word of God – they actually suppressed the word of God. When disbelief was coupled to death and the fear of death, the result was sin.

The Holy Spirit reverses that operation: The word God is received and believed. God conveys life and the result is godliness. In fact, the “command” of God is eternal life:

44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” John 12:44–50 (ESV)

When the Holy Spirit renews us, we receive the words of God, become reconciled to God and receive eternal life. Receiving the words of God into our heart is called faith. The reconciliation and life we receive is called grace. Faith and grace is called salvation:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)

⁵ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:5–6 (ESV)

That light of God shines into our hearts when we hear the proclamation of the Gospel. That light comes into our heart and belief the words of God. God pours the grace of life and reconciliation into our heart – we become transformed, we become new! God is no longer our enemy, now God is our Father:

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:14–17 (ESV)

Consider this matter carefully:

Human beings are born in rebellion against God. We cannot see or understand God rightly. Since we are cut off from the life of God in Jesus Christ, we have darkened hearts and minds, we are filled with sin and given over to our sinful desires. Even our best behavior is sinful. The prime sin is not this or that behavior. Our real fault is unbelief. We refuse to receive God as God. We still seek to live independently of the Creator.

Do you see why good works are so worthless a reed? Do you see why your conduct cannot deliver you from sin? Good works are nothing more than trying to stand our own efforts.

I heard of a man convicted of murder. After the jury found him guilty, the jury had to decide on sentence of death or a sentence of life in prison. The murderer had to come up with some reason not to give him death, so he made some origami animals. When you throw out your good works, you are like the murderer who tries to buy off the jury with a paper fish and a paper duck.

The real problem of the human being is that we raise our – Self up as king and God. Thomas Manton called it “the great Idol, Self”. We want to live in rebellion against God. When God calls us to judgment, we think we will be able to fold some paper and show God our help in Sunday School, our donation to flood relief and a volunteer day at the AIDS walk and God will become so overwhelmed with our service and in so doing overlook the murder of his Son.

Think of this carefully: Jesus died on the cross to carry the wrath of God in our place. When we offer good works and avoid the cross, we deny the wrath of God. We deny the work of Christ. To rely on good works to save our soul is to suppress the knowledge of God. Good works are a supreme demonstration of the flesh – they are a great claim of the idol Self.

The real problem people have is that they want to be reconciled to God without Jesus Christ. Murder and adultery are not the reason people go to Hell. People are condemned by because they will not believe:

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 3:16–18 (ESV)

Our rebellion against God – the rebellion begun by Adam, but a war in which we all have played a willing part – is so wicked, so vile, so hateful that nothing in all Creation could satisfy wrath of God. Romans 1:18 is deadly truth: God is filled with vengeance for rebellion – his wrath is unimaginable. Thus, to save us from our rebellion, the Father sent the Son to become a man – to come in the likeness of sinful flesh – like us, to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law and to bear the full fury of God’s wrath upon the Cross: To bear the weight and guilt and shame of sin, to hold back the eternal hatred of God against sin and so to provide a means of escape.

Jesus came as our champion, and he alone is sufficient to save us from sin, and death, and hell.

Repent and believe: Admit that you have rebelled against God. Admit that you cannot satisfy the justice and judgment of God. Admit that God is God and that Jesus is Lord. Believe and set your faith solely upon Jesus Christ and you will be saved:

6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” Romans 10:6–11 (ESV)

If you want to understand the salvation which is to be had in Jesus Christ, then stop someone and ask. Anyone who knows Jesus already can lead you to him. He is not far, not difficult to find. Ask the person near you, grab an usher, someone in the choir, and ask.

Now to you how know the Lord, I have a question – If salvation is a matter of grace and faith, then why is holiness so difficult? If we have been freed from sin, why do we still sin?

Part Three: Faith, Hope and Love

At the time of salvation, God grants you a divine and supernatural light. You gain an ability to see Jesus Christ. You receive the Holy Spirit, and so you can receive and understand the word of God.

You are given faith.

As a result of your faith you receive grace and mercy. You are reconciled to the Father. You receive the Spirit. You are granted eternal life.

However, your former life does not disappear: You do not lose your memory or your body or your family. God adds to your life. You become a strange sort of already but not yet. You have a new ability to see, but the old world has not disappeared. When we come to Christ, we find ourselves between the Cross and the Second Coming. We have the promises of the age to come, but we still live within this present evil age (Gal. 1:4).

This will help explain why we still sin even though we have been set free from sin. Before faith, we could only sin. Now we have the Spirit, we have the promise of the age to come, and so we have the ability to not sin – but the flesh is still present with us.

How then will we live?

Earlier I explained that the “flesh” turns us to sin when we set on minds upon the things of the flesh, or we follow the desires of the flesh, or we walk according to the flesh. The remedy is thus, faith, hope and love.

First, we must grow in faith.

When we set our minds upon the flesh, we have set our faith upon the flesh. We look to the things of this life and we believe that this will make us happy – that it will satisfy our soul. The remedy is to set out mind on the things of the Spirit – this is known as “faith”.

In Galatia, the Christians sincerely desired to grow in godliness. Yet Paul rebuked them sharply: he said they had lost their minds and were acting like someone bewitched. They had gone wildly astray because they were seeking perfection from their own efforts – in short, they were not living by faith:

3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— Galatians 3:3–5 (ESV)

In Romans 14:23, Paul writes:

Whatever is not from faith is sin.

The faith of a Christian is informed, supplied and directed by the word of God:

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Holiness and godliness are not a matter of doing and don’ting. True holiness is devotion to God. If I do not lie out of pride, then my not lying is sin. Godliness is a by-product of faith, of dependence upon God

Thus, the first step in “walking by the Spirit” – as Paul calls it in Galatians 5:16 — or setting on minds on the things of the Spirit – as Paul calls it in Romans 8:6 – is to have head and heart full of the word of God.

Psalm 1:2 describes the blessed man:

but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

In Colossians 3:1-2 Paul instructs:

1 If then you have beenraised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

In Colossians 3:16 Paul writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly.” The Bible everywhere emphasizes this necessary dependence upon the word of God. In Romans 12:23 and Ephesians 4:23, Paul explains that since we have become new, since we have received the Spirit, we must renew our minds – lest we become conformed to this world.

When God creates the universe, he speaks. When God creates a people in the wilderness, he speaks from the Mountain. When God seeks to redeem his people, he sends us Christ, his Son – the word of God. When the Holy Spirit builds the church on Pentecost, Peter preaches. When the Lord seeks to correct the sin in the church, the apostles of the Lord send letters.

When Paul, that great servant of the Lord, waits to be murdered by Nero, he writes to Timothy one last time. He does not prescribe a political campaign. He does not contemplate a jail break. He doesn’t tell Timothy to move to the hills and live off the grid because persecution is coming:

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:1–2 (ESV)

There is nothing so vital for the Christian as drawing the Word of the Lord. No Christian can have too much preaching and teaching of the word of God. In fact, the most mature, hopeful, joyous, loving Christians I have met are the ones who drink in the greatest depths of God word. I have heard it said by some that they receive enough teaching. I do not believe it.

The word of God, which sets forth Christ before our eyes, is the great means by which the Holy Spirit transforms our life:

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)

As we look into the word of God, we become changed into the image of Christ. For when the word of God is rightly taught and received by faith, it flows through the heart and returns of hope and love. Let me show you:

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4 (ESV)

The Scripture flows into the heart, produces hope and flows out as holiness. Listen to how Peter begins with preaching and moves through hope to holiness:

12 It was revealed to them [that is the prophets] that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:12–16 (ESV)

Think of it: Faith undoes the rebellion of Adam and Eve. Faith is the willing submission to the word of God. Hope, too, undoes the Fall. Not only did Adam and Eve lose the word of God, they also lost the life of God. Without God, life has no life, it is a hopeless misery. But when we receive the words of life, our life turns to hope.

When we live in hope, we will necessarily walk in the Spirit. The roots of sin sink down into hopeless despair – the dread of death gives birth to sin. But hope – hope of eternal life – rips up sin by the root:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13 (ESV)

So by faith, we receive the word of God which springs up as hope. But that is not all. Faith and hope flower as love – and no sin can stand before love.

When Paul rebukes the Galatians on the ground that they have sought to live without faith, he particularly rebukes them on living without love. He warns them to not bite and devour one-another (Gal. 5:13-15). When Paul corrects the Corinthians for being fleshly, he rebukes them for dissolving into factions, one of Paul and another of Apollos (1 Cor. 3:1-4).

Do not dishonor God, but devolving into factions.

Factions, slandering, gossiping, complaining, such murmuring sound is the devil’s music played upon the fiddle of flesh.

But love destroys all sin. As Paul writes in Romans 13:10, love fulfills the law. In Galatians 5:22, love is the prime fruit of the Spirit. When the word of God by the Spirit of God flows into the heart, it raises hope which flows out in love – and it is that love which perfects holiness:

12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. 1 Thessalonians 3:12–13 (ESV)

How does God establish your heart as blameless? By causing it to abound in love. What is the law of God? What is that God seeks above all things? Love – love for God and love for one-another. Love undoes the fall: Faith and hope are steps to love.

The more I have studied the matter, the more I have grown to see that holiness in its depth is love. When we look upon the things of the flesh, when our mind is set on the flesh, we will fall into sin. We will see that move first in our tongue, in our complaints, in our discontent. When you hear the sharp, bitter word, when you mind raises in selfishness flee to the cross for you are in grave danger. But when we fill our heart with the words of God, when by faith we receive Christ preached, our hearts will abound in hope and hope will pour forth in love and love will bring us to a haven far beyond sin and fear and death. The age to come is the age of love when flesh shall be put far away, and death shall be destroyed. But until then, may we hold our hope and assurance dear and prove our passport with hearts filled with unity and love.

Flesh in Genesis.1

21 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Genesis

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Flesh, Genesis

Flesh in Genesis:

Genesis 2:21–24 (ESV)

²¹So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

²²And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

²³Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

²⁴Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Here is the introductory use of the word basar in the Hebrew Bible (the LXX has sarx) for each usage. In these three uses of the word “flesh” we have a gradually expanding understanding of the word. The first instance merely references the physical body. The second use of flesh extends the semantic concept to include physical derivation:

In Hebrew such expressions are commonly used to indicate propinquity…. The meaning is: formed from the same parents are from the same family; the source of the bones and flesh is the same. Art versus based on this metaphorical expression, as though to say: the first man could employ this phrase in the full sense of the words under literal connotation: actually, bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. (Cassuto 135-136).

In the third usage, the word “flesh” has come to mean something far more physical body. Currid explains the phrase one flesh” as, “a complete unit. But it is much more than physical unity, also including moral, intellectual, emotional and spiritual aspects.” (113). Wenham expands this concept as follows:

“They become one flesh.” This does not denote merely the sexual union that follows marriage, or the children conceived in marriage, or even the spiritual and emotional relationship that it involves, though all are involved in becoming one flesh. Rather it affirms that just as blood relations are one’s flesh and bone (cf. Comment on v 23), so marriage creates a similar kinship relation between man and wife. They become related to each other as brother and sister are. The laws in Lev 18 and 20, and possibly Deut 24:1–4, illustrate the application of this kinship-of-spouses principle to the situation following divorce or the death of one of the parties. Since a woman becomes on marriage a sister to her husband’s brothers, a daughter to her father-in-law, and so on, she cannot normally marry any of them should her first husband die or divorce her. (See G. J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, 253–61, and idem, JJS 30 [1979] 36–40). The kinships established by marriage are therefore not terminated by death or divorce.[1]

Thus, the word “flesh” comes to entail more than just the physical body or even physical descent. The concept of flesh refers to relational characteristics and status.

[1] Gordon J. Wenham, vol. 1, Word Biblical Commentary : Genesis 1-15, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), 71. “The language points to a unity of persons and not simply to a conjunction of bodies, or a community of interests, or even a reciprocity of affections” (The Pulpit Commentary: Genesis, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2004), 52).