Josh Benner

Tag: Biblical theology

  • How does Jesus have a Father? Studying John 5:17

    How does Jesus have a Father? Studying John 5:17

    In John 5, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath. This causes a controversy between Jesus and the Pharisees who had an extremely restrictive view of activities which were allowed on the Sabbath. 

    In John 5:17, Jesus says: “My father is working until now, and I am working.” 

    That’s a theologically loaded statement. 

    It’s so much a part of our vernacular. It’s so ingrained in our thinking of God as our heavenly father that it can be easy to lose sight of how radical a statement that Jesus is making to the Pharisees. 

    Jesus refers to the God of creation as his father. 

    Jesus is not seeker sensitive with that.

    Historical context  

    In the Old Testament, there were appropriate forms in which to address God and Father was not one of them. 

    The first Jewish person to refer to God as their “father” was Jesus. 

    There are a few texts which refer to God as being the father of Israel. But that’s not how individuals addressed God.

    It’s fairly uncommon in pagan religions before Jesus. 

    In fact, it’s uncommon in all of the world’s major religions. It does appear that fatherhood language is sometimes used in Sikhism, although Christianity predates Sikhism by more than 1,400 years. 

    But Jesus calls God his father. 

    It’s really pretty personal and intimate language to use in referring to God. 

    To this point in John, Jesus has made a reference to the temple as his father’s house, in chapter 2. 

    But this language of fatherhood will start to become commonplace in this gospel. From this point forward, Jesus will make dozens of references to God as his father or God as The Father. Just in this chapter, Jesus will talk of the fatherhood of God 14 more times, and the fatherhood language and showing the relationships between Jesus and God becomes much more theologically dense. 

    How does Jesus have a father?  

    But what does that even mean? 

    That God is Jesus’ father? 

    Jesus is uncreated and eternal. He’s God and has always been God. 

    John 1:1 tells us: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

    How does Jesus have a father? 

    Let’s consider several aspects of fatherhood and what that means. 

    D.A. Carson brings up that when we think of fatherhood, we tend to just think of it biologically. A man and a woman procreate and have an offspring, and the man is the father of the child. 

    I’m influenced on this subject by Carson, Michael Horton, and Louis Berkhof among others. 

    The child has his DNA. I think that’s the first place our mind goes when we think of fatherhood. 

    And certainly, that’s true. 

    Incarnationally 

    In one sense, the fatherhood of God and sonship of Christ relates to the incarnation where the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 

    Jesus is eternal and uncreated. But he was not eternally a man. 

    In the union of Christ’s humanity and divinity, he was born.

    Luke 1:31-32, where the angel Gabriel is telling Mary of the son whom she is to bear. 

    behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David

    And Jesus was indeed born, as we learn in Luke 2:7: 

    unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord

    In his humanity, Jesus was born of a virgin, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit through the will of God. In the beginning was the Word. Jesus always was, but he was not always human. 

    How can an eternal being can be born and fully man is a divine mystery that we cannot fully understand. 

    But he was born, and in that sense, he is the Son of God. 

    The word became flesh. That’s not saying Jesus simply took on a human body like he was in the driver’s seat of a vehicle, but that he became flesh. He became a man. 

    So he’s the son of God, incarnationally. But that’s not the only sense in which Jesus is the Son of God. 

    Second. He’s the Son of God, from an ethical standpoint. 

    Ethically  

    You also have sonship in a moral sense in the Bible. 

    In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says: 

    love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High (Luke 16:35). 

    In that usage, he’s saying that, in one sense, it is acting like God which makes us like a son. 

    Follow me for a second. 

    Again borrowing from Carson. Prior to the industrial revolution, most people went into the same vocation as your parents. If your father was a farmer, you were a farmer. If your father was a fisherman, you were a fisherman. If you father was a blacksmith, you were a blacksmith. 

    You did what your father did. You were trained by your father.

    Some people still go into their parent’s line of work now, and that’s all well and good, but it’s not culturally assumed today that everyone will just follow in their father’s and mother’s footsteps. 

    But our heavenly father is perfect and righteous. We are not. 

    But Jesus ties acting like our father in heaven to sonship. 

    He does the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:9: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Sons of God. 

    And that goes both ways. In Acts 13:10, Paul calls a magician named Elymas a “son of the devil.” 

    Now Jesus is the one who truly is perfect. In his ministry in the world, he truly lived as God because he is himself divine. Fully man, fully divine, and without sin and he is morally the Son of God. 

    Royalty

    Jesus is the royal Son of God. 

    In the Old Testament, the kings of Israel in the Davidic dynasty are sometimes referred to as God’s son. 

    The king didn’t refer to God as his father. But he is proclaimed to be God’s Son. 

    We see that in Psalm 2. Psalm 2 talks of the kings of the earth and their opposition to God. But then talks of a king whom God has called his son. 

    Psalm 2:7: 

    7 I will tell of the decree: 

    The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; 

    today I have begotten you. 

    In the Old Testament, this is applied to the Davidic kings. 

    We see this language in 2 Samuel 7 when the temple is dedicated. 

    2 Samuel 7:13-14. 

     13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

    But the kings are still ultimately sinful in their leading of the people. 

    In Jesus, he is the true royal son who came into the world and preached of the kingdom of God. 

    Israel 

    Israel collectively is referred to as God’s son. 

    Jeremiah 31:9, God calls them his firstborn: 

    for I am a father to Israel, 

    and Ephraim is my firstborn. 

    Reminder that Ephraim refers to Northern Israel. 

    Exodus 4:22-23, Moses has been sent by God to command Pharoah to free the Israelites. 

    Moses is told: 

    you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.

    With Israel, they had the law and failed to keep it. Jesus kept it perfectly. 

    Moses gave them the law on a mountain. Jesus gave the new law in the Sermon on the Mount. 

    They were in the wilderness and sinned. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and did not sin. 

    The Book of Hosea refers to Israel when it says “out of Egypt, I called my son.” That same verse will be applied to Christ in the Gospel of Matthew. 

    He is the greater Israel. 

    Image of God 

    Jesus is the Son of God in the sense that he is the image of God. 

    The image of God goes back to creation. 

    Genesis 1:26: 

    26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

    Goes on to say in verse 27: 

    27 So God created man in his own image, 

    in the image of God he created him; 

    male and female he created them. 

    It’s not until the New Testament that Adam is referred to as a son of God. We see that in the genealogy of Christ in Luke 3:38. 

    Man is created in the image of God. But humanity is also sinful and fallen. 

    Romans 5:10 says: 

    if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

    We don’t have time to quote the whole passage, but Paul is building an argument. 

    In verse 12, he says: 

     just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

    Then he says in verse 17: 

    because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 

    So what Paul is saying is that sin entered the world through Adam and that Jesus is a new Adam who is without sin and comes bringing grace. 

    Jesus is the greater Adam and the truest example of the image of God. 

    Colossians 1:15 says: 15 He is the image of the invisible God.

    Hebrew 1:2-3 says: 

    in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature

    In that sense, Jesus is the true son.

    I’m giving all of these examples, because Jesus as the Son of God means something. 

    It’s not a haphazardly chosen title. 

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  • Jesus and sabbath controversies

    Jesus and sabbath controversies

    Honoring the Sabbath and keeping it Holy is in the Ten Commandments. Specifically, it’s the fourth commandment found in Exodus 20. When the command is given in Exodus, the basis for this command goes back to creation. 

    Exodus 20:11: 

     For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 

    The Sabbath is important. 

    Throughout much of Israel’s history, they had not taken the Sabbath as seriously as they should have. 

    In the prophets, their failure to keep the Sabbath is pointed to as a symptom of their sin and lack of devotion to God. 

    In Ezekiel 20:10-26, Israel’s profaning of the Sabbath is looked at as a direct cause of their downfall. 

    In Amos 8:5, the Israelites are judged for their half-hearted Sabbath observance and their regular desire to have the Sabbath conclude so that they can resume pursuing their own ends and their own goals. 

    We see a similar idea at the beginning of the Book of Isaiah. The Israelites are half-hearted in their pursuit of God. And their Sabbath observance is mentioned in Isaiah 1:13: 

    13 Bring no more vain offerings; 

    incense is an abomination to me. 

    New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— 

    I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 

    Half-heartedly going through the motions is looked upon by God as vain.

    He wants true, genuine worship. 

    As we’ve talked about on numerous occasions, in the Old Testament, Israel is eventually judged by God and they lose their land. 

    When the southern kingdom was able to return to their land, they attempted to learn from their past sins in the final centuries before Christ. 

    Here’s something you might not have known. 

    In the gospels, you have Jesus constantly interacting with the Pharisees. But where are they in the Old Testament? They’re not there. 

    Or think about rabbis. Where does the Old Testament ever talk about someone going to their rabbi? 

    It doesn’t. 

    It was after the Israelites had lost the land and returned from exile that these institutions arose. 

    And part of the goal was a return to the law. 

    They wanted to learn from history and learn from their past sins as a people, and so one of the cultural responses was a hyper-sensitivity to the Law of the Old Testament. 

    The Law was good. Romans 7:12 tells us that the Law is holy. 1 Timothy 1:8 tells us that the Law is good if used properly. 

    But in an effort to make sure that they followed the Law, they added rules that were not Biblical onto the Biblical Law as a way of trying to ensure adherence. 

    By the first century, Jewish tradition had listed 39 different activities which were prohibited on the Sabbath. 

    In some schools of thought, adherence to the Sabbath was more important than life and death.

    And so for this man who has just been healed, for him to move his bed is looked upon as a violation of the Sabbath because that’s viewed as technically being work. 

    They’re missing sight of what Jesus has just done for this man. 

    The religious establishment tells this man that it is not lawful for him to pick up his bed and carry it on the Sabbath. 

    But according to who’s law? It’s according to their interpretation not to a specific command of scripture. 

    The Sabbath command in the Old Testament relates to work. This man isn’t doing work. He’s simply picking up his belongings after being healed. He’s not committing a sin here. 

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  • The covenant with Abram. Studying Genesis 12

    The covenant with Abram. Studying Genesis 12

    In Genesis, we see three acts of divine judgment each followed by acts of divine grace. 

    We see the curse of the original sin which brings forth death but the Lord also makes a promise of ultimate victory to come from an offspring of the woman (Genesis 3:15). 

    The next major divine judgment is the flood where God wipes out the earth and all of its inhabitants, save for Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark. But then we also see this event followed by another divine blessing as the Lord makes his covenant with Noah. In this sense, Noah becomes like another Adam figure in a reconstituted world. 

    In Genesis 11, we see another major sin event: the Tower of Babel as a prideful world tries to build a monument to their own glory. The Lord brings confusion to the people in Genesis 11. But we are also introduced to Abram in that same chapter and it would be Aram through whom the Lord would make a great covenant. 

    In this sense, Abram too will be another Adam figure who is the father of a new humanity, a people of God and through whom the Lord will ensure divine blessings to the world and through whom he will bring the ultimate blessing of the Lord Jesus (Galatains 3:16). 

    In Genesis 11, Abram is introduced as a son of Terah. We’re also told that he has a wife named Sarai and that she is barren. This introduces a theme of barrenness that will also come up in numerous future Bible stories including with Rachel and Rebekah as well as with Hannah in First Samuel and with Elizabeth in the Gospel of Luke. 

    Genesis 11 ends by saying that Abram and his family had settled in Haran. 

    Genesis 11:31-32: 

    ​​31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran. 

    Genesis 12 hits the ground running with the Lord calling Abram away from the land where they had settled. 

    Genesis 12:1-3: 

    Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

    The Lord makes three promises to Abram. 

    A great nation

    As Adam was the first man in the world, as Noah was the leader of a new world and the one chosen by God to be spared (along with his family), Abram is also uniquely positioned as the one man through whom the Lord makes this covenant. As Thomas Schreiner notes in the Short Studies of Biblical Theology of Covenant, the rest of the world was still opposed to God when he made his covenant promise with Abram. 

    As with all covenants in the Bible, it is totally at the initiative of God that the covenant is made. The Hebrew word translate for “covenant” is not found in Genesis 12 but it is found in chapters 15 and 17 in similar contexts of talking about the same promises. For that reason, it is appropriate to view chapter 12 as the beginning section of this covenant. 

    In verse 2, the Lord promises to make Abram a great nation. This promises will also be elaborated upon in Genesis chapters 15 and 17. The promise of being a great nation will imply two things. 

    In chapter 11, a kingdom had just fallen at Babel. But here, the Lord tells Abram that he will be a great nation. It’s because the Lord was establishing a nation that would be dedicated to him and set apart for the purposes of God. As Schreiner notes, “the word nation also implies offspring, for Abraham couldn’t be a great nation without offspring” (Covenant and God’s Purpose for the World, Page 43). 

    In chapters 15 and 17, the Lord would also promise that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars (15:5) and that Abram would be a father of many nations (17:4) and that kings will come from him (17:6). 

    Abram would also later be gold that his offspring would possess the gates of their enemies (22:17). This victory links the offspring of Abram ot the seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15 who would defeat the serpent. 

    In the New Testament, we see that this promise is fulfilled in Christ. 

    Galatians 3:16: 

    the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ

    We see a further elaboration of the political natures of God’s promise to Abraham. 

    Genesis 28:14: 

    Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

    And again in Genesis 35:11 where we see a furthering of the promise: 

    God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 

    And all of this happens through a man and a woman who are barren and have no children when we’re first introduced to them! 

    Land

    God had also promised land to Abram. 

    Schreiner notes that if Abram is like a new Adam, then the Promised Land is like a New Eden. 

    In Genesis 15:18, we’re told of the parameters of the Promised Land: 

    18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

    They arrive in the land under the leadership of Joshua.  

    We seem to see a realization of these promises during the reign of King Solomon. 1 Kings 4:20-21: 

    20 Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. 21  Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. 

    We saw a picture of what God’s promises were supposed to look like but the people sinned and lost it. God was still faithful to his people. 

    Blessing

    Abram was told that he would be a blessing. Schreiner points out that the covenant was always intended to be a blessing for all of the nations, not just Israel. God would bless his people but also bring blessings to the world through his people. 

    In the New Covenant age, we see the blessings to the world through the gospel and as a result of the cross of Christ. 

  • Sermon: Witness to the truth – John 18:36-38

    How is truth defined? Biblically, we see truth by looking to Jesus. As Pilate continues to question Jesus, Jesus will teach that he has a kingdom that is not of this world. Pilate misunderstands and Jesus will give the further clarification that Jesus has a kingdom which is based In truth which is comprised by those who follow the truth.

    Sermon transcript

  • The Word became flesh: what it means when the creator enters creation

    In one of his stand-up specials, the comedian Jim Gaffigan talks about camping. In the monologue, Gaffigan mentions that his wife enjoys camping and says that it’s a tradition in her family. 

    During the bit, Gaffigan describes himself as being “indoorsie.” 

    But he points out that it used to be a tradition in everyone’s family before we invented the house. 

    He asks “If it’s so great outside, then why are all the bugs trying to get in my house?”

    Full disclosure. 

    I don’t enjoy camping. 

    I don’t understanding leaving the comfort of home, of a bed, of air conditioning, of indoor plumbing, of restful sleep. But it’s interesting to consider leaving my house to go into the woods. And I think about that and I think of what Jesus left to come into the world. Jesus left heaven to come into the world. 

    I like my home. 

    But that’s not heaven. 

    He left the most perfect and spectacular place in creation to come into our world. 

    He left a sinless place to come into a fallen world. He left a place of perfect beauty for a world that has gray skies and thunderstorms. He left a place of adoration for a world where he faced condemnation. 

    John 1:14 says: 
    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. 

    Old Testament background

    In the Old Testament, people originally exist in perfect fellowship with God. Because of sin, fellowship with God was tarnished. The unencumbered closeness to God was lost due to sin. 

    We were no longer holy. But the story doesn’t end there. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God bringing redemption to his people. God makes a covenant with Abraham. We see God’s continued faithfulness to his covenant. 

    Fast forward. 

    The Israelites were held in captivity in Egypt. After God had miraculously freed them, and while the Israelites were wandering in the desert, God gave them instructions for a structure called the tabernacle. The tabernacle was a tent that the Israelites were to travel with and it was a symbol for God’s presence with his people. 

    It was a piece of what they had lost.

    Sometimes it’s called the tabernacle. Sometimes it’s called the tent of meeting. 

    Exodus 40:34-35: Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

    Exodus spells out very specific instructions on how the tabernacle was to be built, what types of items would be placed inside the tabernacle, etc. The instructions are so specific because it is a sacred and holy place. 

    Again, it represented the very presence of God in the world.  But this was pointing forward to something greater. 

    The temple. 

    When the Israelites entered the land, part of their purpose was in constructing the temple. As the tabernacle had been portable, the temple was meant to be permanent. The overarching purposes were still the same. Most notably, it was where God met his people in the word. It was his presence in the world.  The temple was the place where sacrifices were made. 

    For the priests, there were specific instructions on what they had to do to prepare to enter into the Temple It was a sacred place. As with the tabernacle, not just anyone could go into the temple. The priest couldn’t just go into the temple any arbitrary way they wanted. 

    It was a holy place. The temple was completed during the reign of Solomon 

    1 Kings 8:10-11: And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

    In both places, when the presence of the Lord comes into the temple, people can’t even stand in it because the presence is so glorious. The temple is hugely important in the Old Testament. Building the temple is important. The specific instructions for the temple are important. 

    But this points forward to an even greater temple. To an even greater example of God’s presence with his people. 

    Meaning of John 1:14

    “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.”

    The word translated as “dwelt” more literally means that Jesus tabernacled among us, that Jesus pitched a tent among us. It’s the same word for tabernacle that was used centuries before Christ when the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew to Greek. 

    Jesus is the tabernacle. He is the greater temple. He is the presence of God with his people because Jesus IS God with his people. So it’s not simply saying that Jesus dwelt among us. But rather: in Jesus, we see God became flesh and tabernacled with his people.  

    Instead of a tent or a building, we have a person, we have God himself. 

    The greater tabernacle, the greater temple. And he’s greater because he’s everything these places were meant to represent. It was only the priests who could go into the tabernacle and the temple. A priest serves as a mediator between man and God. 

    Jesus is the greater priest. It is he who restores our relationship with God. These man made structures were where sacrifices were offered. Jesus himself is the sacrifice. And as I’ve said, the tabernacle and the temple represent the presence of God with his people. 

    In Jesus, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. 

    The Word made his dwelling among us. He pitched a tent among us. He tabernacled among us. The God who created the world came into the world to save the world. 

    There was no other way for a sinful people to be reconciled to the Lord than through God himself coming into the world. But because of his love for us. Because of his goodness. Because of his grace.

    The creator entered creation. In his commentary on John, the late New Testament Grant Osborne says of this verse “In my opinion, this is the single greatest sentence ever written in the history of human language, the deepest theological statement ever written. No finite human being could ever enter the realm of God and join his family. It could only come to pass if God himself were to enter the realm of humanity.”

    How do you make yourself right before a Holy God? How do you earn standing before a perfect God? How do you deserve blessings before an all powerful God? You don’t and you can’t. 

    Our world likes to have a very casual and cavalier attitude that we can just walk into the throne room of heaven, that we can just walk into the presence of God on our own terms, just because we feel like it. We like to believe that we’re special, we’re good, we’re worthy on our own. 

    Jesus has shown us that he is the way but we want to go our own way. Imperfect people are not worthy of a perfect and holy God. But the word became flesh and dwelt among us. That’s not our goodness. 

    It’s his goodness. 

    He made a way for us to be with him, even though we do not deserve it. The Word became flesh. God became one of us so we could be with him. He is a personal God. It doesn’t get more personal than Jesus entering his creation. 

    Sometimes it can be tempting to doubt if God really knows what we’re going through when we’re struggling. It can be tempting to wonder if God really cares.  

    He knows. 

    He knows what it’s like to live in a sinful world. He knows what it’s like to have people oppose him and not like him. He knows what it’s like to be hated for no reason. He knows what it’s like to be slandered. He knows what it’s like to cry. He knows what it’s like to be let down. He knows what it’s like to be betrayed. He knows what it’s like to suffer and feel pain. He knows what it’s like to face injustice. 

    It can be easy to focus on Christ’s glory and divinity to the point where we forget his humanity. But we see his humanity in this passage. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It’s often said of people in politics who have opinions on public policies. We feel like they can’t relate to the average person. 

    There’s the old saying not to judge a person until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. Jesus lived a lifetime in our shoes. Sometimes God can seem distant. He’s a personal God who invites us to know him. He joined us in our humanity. He came to earth so that we could have heaven. He died so that we could have life. He was forsaken so we could be children of God. 

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