Ephesians - Lesson 20

We finished the first three chapters of Ephesians, and we're going to move into chapters four, five, and six, and subsequent lectures. But I'd like to spend some time parenthetically thinking more with you about defining the gospel in terms of the words that we've mentioned thus far, two Greek terms, euangelion, which translates as good news or gospel, and then the Greek verb, euangelizo, which translates as I announce the good news. But I also want to spend some time talking a little bit more about the issue of Judaism and Christianity, and more specifically thinking about the issue of grace and works and what exactly Paul is discussing when he emphasizes that the dividing wall has been broken down, namely the law, and try to situate that comment back in Ephesians 2 and some of the statements that he's made in the context of understanding, hopefully, the context into which he's speaking as it relates to Judaism.

But first, let's think about the usage of these terms that we identify as gospel. So, of course, the gospel, what is the gospel? The answer to that question is it requires more information than simply defining words. So I'm not seeking to articulate in this lecture that everything we know about the gospel, we find it in the usage of these two words.

You have gospel concepts all over the place in the Bible, even when the words good news or gospel are not mentioned. So when you have statements that talk about, for example, that we are redeemed by the blood of Christ, that is gospel language, even though the word gospel doesn't pop up. But I'm focusing more specifically, actually, on the meaning of these two terms, good news or euangelion, gospel, and the verb euangelio, to announce the good news.

So when we think about these terms, we must think about the way in which they operated and worked in Paul's Second Temple and Greco-Roman Jewish context. On the Greco-Roman side of things, the idea of the announcement of good news was good news that applied to the birth of a new emperor so that when an heir to the throne was born, that was considered by those in the empire as good news. That's important to recognize because that shows us that the words good news and to announce good news that pop up in the New Testament are not inherently Christian terms.

In fact, the words that Paul uses are words that are operating in the world in which he lives. But then they take particular Christianized definitions when they're applied to Jesus Christ. But in the Jewish sense of things, we think of how Paul is using the word gospel.

It does mean announcement like it does mean in non-Jewish sources to announce good news of some sort. We also see in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, when we think of the Jewish scriptures, which are Christian scriptures, the Old Testament, we see that the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, the Hebrew Bible. We call that typically the Masoretic Text.

And we see that the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, we call that the LXX or the Septuagint. And there was a time in history when the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek so that Greek speaking Jews would be able to have their scriptures in their dialect. So when Paul uses these words, euangelion or euangelizo, these are words that you find translated in the Septuagint to talk about this good news.

So let's think about some places in the Septuagint where you have these words used, and I'll bring it back to applying it to what Paul is doing in Ephesians when he talks about the good news of the gospel. First, we see in a text that every time it's used, it refers to some type of an announcement. So you think of, for example, 2 Samuel 4, verse 10, it refers to a report, an announcement that a messenger is giving regarding Saul's death.

It's a report. It's an announcement. Now, the announcement might not always be an announcement of good news.

The announcement might be the announcement of bad news. But the point is, is that the word or form of the noun that Paul uses is also used to refer to a report, a good news. But secondly, the verb that pops up in Paul's writings, euangelizo, as to announce good news, this is a verb that predominantly is what is used in the Septuagint to talk about, to announce good news.

So in fact, my point here is, is that the verb seems to be utilized a bit more than the actual noun. We have a few verses here to think about this together. So I'm gonna give you some hopefully helpful information that helps to emphasize that the idea of gospel, as Paul's using it, and the idea of to announce the good news or preach the good news, there's always this idea of a proclamation, an announcement, a report of some sort.

In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, you also have it used to refer to the announcement about the death of Saul. We see this in Old Testament passages. We also see in the Old Testament in Psalm 96, in Psalm 96, the verbal idea to announce his good news is used to refer to an announcement.

And the psalmist proclaims that he, that God, is a glorious God who will come in judgment against the nations. But then, the psalmist says, before he describes that the Lord will come in judgment against the nations, he exhorts the people of God to praise the Lord, and here's the verb, and to announce his salvation. It's the verb long lead, though, to announce his good news, his salvation.

In the Septuagint, that particular psalm is Psalm 95, but in the English, it's Psalm 90, 96. The verse and chapter divisions don't always correspond from the Septuagint to the English. Another example would be in the prophet Joel.

Very important text, as I've tried to articulate with respect to Ephesians, because in Ephesians, you have the Messianic age, ushering in the age of the spirit. When Joel, you essentially have that language right there, and Joel describes this announcement of the coming of the spirit as good news. Before the promise of salvation in Joel chapter two and three, Joel warns that God will come in judgment.

Then he announces the Lord's promise of salvation for his people. And this announcement of his promise, it includes the announcement of the promise of the spirit. Immediately thereafter, Joel then announces that God will come in judgment, but everyone who calls on the name of the Lord for salvation will be saved, just as the Lord himself has promised.

And then Joel states that the one who is saved and those who, here it is again, who announced this salvation as good news, will be survivors in Jerusalem and Zion. So this is a very important point. So in Job, this idea of announcing this good news or gospel language, this announcement that the spirit's going to come and those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved and the spirit will be poured out upon them.

That's good news. We also see this idea of good news or an announcement of some sort in Nahum, the prophet. The book begins with the prophet's announcement of the Lord's judgment.

It states that God has mercy on those who seek their refuge in him. Before the prophet again promises Israel that the Lord will destroy his adversaries, the prophet urges the people to see that upon the mountain that is above the destruction that will fall upon Nineveh and all of the Lord's adversaries stands the feet of the one who proclaims good news. So you notice something here that the announcement of good news from the Lord enters in to a context where there's a threat of judgment.

So again, the verb to announce is good news doesn't always announce or to announce doesn't always mean to announce a good report. It could be announcing a bad report, but in this context there's an announcement of judgment that's coming and in the midst of that announcement there's a promise that salvation is coming, which is an announcement of good news. So let me just say this practically.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news because there's bad news. The bad news is all of sin has fallen short of the glory of God. The prophets tell us what the bad news is.

They announce that judgment is coming, but they also announce that Yahweh is coming to bring salvation to his people. So the good news that's being announced is being announced alongside of this reality that judgment is coming and the good news of Yahweh's salvation triumphs over the threat of judgment for those who called upon the name of the Lord to be saved. The gospel is only good news for those who believe it, but the gospel also has an element of judgment for those who don't.

Well back to the point that I'm making here about the verb. Let me turn to Isaiah and key texts here in Isaiah. I'll give you the specific passages.

Isaiah 40 verse 9, Isaiah 52 verse 7, Isaiah 60 verse 6, and Isaiah 61 verse 1. Talk about this announcement, this u'angelizo that Paul uses. This is important that we think about Isaiah because I think that Paul draws quite a bit from Isaiah and what he says about this Jew-Gentile inclusion. I mean this as we've talked about, as Paul has stated, was revealed not as clear to the prophets as it was to him, but it was nevertheless prophesied by them that the Messiah would come and bring about this universal salvation, by which I mean not that everybody will be saved, but that Jews and Gentiles will be saved through Jesus Christ.

Some people use the word universal to mean everybody will be saved, doesn't matter what they believe. That's not what I mean here. That's not what typical Pauline scholars mean when they talk about Paul's view of universal salvation.

What we mean is that his salvation is not limited to Jewish people. His understanding of salvation includes Gentiles. It's Jewish and Gentile, and only Jews and Gentiles will be saved if they trust in Jesus Christ by faith.

And this very idea that Paul articulates robustly, and he describes it as something that's clearly revealed to him in this present age, he is drawing this reality from the prophetic tradition right in Isaiah and other places, but especially Isaiah when Isaiah promises from Isaiah 40 to 66 that the announcement of good news is that Yahweh is going to save, yes, Jews by means of this servant, but also the nations by means of this Messianic figure. So let me give you a few examples here. So I'll be giving the verses.

Let's look at them one by one. Isaiah 40, verse nine. Now, again, I'm referring to the references as they're given to us in the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

Isaiah chapter 40, verse nine, and that verse, Israel is exhorted to get on a high mountain to announce salvation. So to announce salvation is good news. But remember, salvation implies there's something from which we need to be saved.

And the something from which Isaiah's audience needed to be saved was from God's judgment, from his wrath. Now, in the historical context of Isaiah, that means Yahweh is going to bring them out of exile. And if they want to avoid exile, they needed to obey Yahweh in faithful obedience and compliance with the law of Moses.

But Isaiah is also pointing beyond deliverance from exile, as we see him in chapters 40 to 66, especially emphasizing this future cosmic redemption where Israel and the cosmos, the world will be redeemed. And in Isaiah 53, even when the suffering servant dies for the sins of the many, Isaiah 52, verse seven, the message of salvation stands in authority over those upon whom the Lord brings destruction. Thus the bearer of good news seems to be either Yahweh in the text or another spokesperson, is described as beautiful because he brings a message and announcement of salvation in the midst of judgment.

And this message of salvation is able to deliver from destruction those who hear and believe. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Why are the feet beautiful? Paul picks up on this in Romans, doesn't he? Why are those feet beautiful? They're beautiful because the message is promising salvation to those who respond to the message in faith.

In other words, judgment is not the final word. It's not. That's good news.

It's not. Judgment is real. But the feet of the one who's proclaiming salvation, those feet are beautiful because he is providing a way out for those who are subject to fall under that destruction if he repents and calls upon the Lord to be saved.

And then Isaiah chapter 60 verse 6 makes reference to the nations announcing as good news Israel's salvation. And finally Isaiah 61 verse 1, you have this statement where the Lord has anointed someone to preach the good news of salvation. Now this is a passage that Jesus picks up on in the gospel of Luke chapter 4 verses 18 and 19.

And Jesus reads that Isaiah scroll, as you remember, and he is sitting or standing rather in the synagogue explaining the scroll. And he gives the scroll back to the attendant. He sits down.

He says, this verse has been fulfilled today in your hearing. So Jesus is actually doing some very helpful interpretive work for us to show us that what Isaiah 61 verse 1 is talking about is realized in Jesus Christ. So that in essence, Jesus is the good news.

He is the gospel. This proclamation in Isaiah 61 verse 1, it comes to Israel as the prophet pronounces judgment against her in exile. With the announcement of exile and judgment, the Lord gives good news of salvation.

So as it relates to Paul, Paul says that good news is fulfilled in the announcement about God's redemptive promises for Jews and Gentiles and for the cosmos and Jesus Christ. So again, it's helpful for us to realize that what Paul says in this letter about God's redemptive plan for Jews and Gentiles in chapters 2 and 3, which we saw in the previous lecture, that Jews and Gentiles and Christ dead in trespasses and sins, but now they are raised to walk in newness of life. That Jews and Gentiles in Christ are chosen.

They are predestined. They are adopted as children. They have redemption by the blood of Christ.

They have the seal of the spirit when they heard the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation and believed it. And that Jews and Gentiles are fellow members of the same body, fellow citizens of the same spiritual family, fellow heirs in Christ Jesus through the gospel. He's not creating this theology.

He's revealing it clearly as he's understanding now that this is exactly what the prophetic tradition has always promised. This is what God has always promised. So this is a helpful, a good point here to pause for another practical application with respect to the gospel.

So we need, as I've said before, to understand there's a difference between explaining what Euangelion and Euangelizo, how do you define those terms? That's a different work than explaining what does the Bible teach us about the gospel? Because the answer to that question goes beyond simply explaining the meaning of two words. And then thirdly, what do we mean when we share the gospel with somebody? So as I've said before, when I share the gospel with someone, I don't talk about Euangelion and Euangelizo. I don't do that.

That is, I don't talk about Greek words. When I share the gospel with someone, I want to make sure they understand, that person understands that Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and he absorbed the wrath of God for our sins. And God raised him from the dead. And if that person will make a personal decision to turn from his sins and to trust by faith that Jesus died for his sin and God raised him from the dead for his salvation, he can be saved.

That whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That is what I want to make sure I communicate with clarity to an unbeliever in order to help that person understand what it means to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Of course, there's more to say about the gospel, which is why we do discipleship, that we help believers understand the gospel is for them too.

The gospel is for those who are outside the community of faith. We call them to come in. Jesus died to save sinners.

He didn't come from the for the healthy. He came for the sick. But the gospel is also for believers.

That's that's what we are constantly growing in. Paul is praying that they grow in their understanding of of the gospel, what God has done for them, for them in Christ. So practically, then we while the gospel certainly emphasizes.

What individual sinners must do to be saved, that the gospel has more to it, because when we become Christians, we haven't maxed out or exhausted our knowledge of the gospel. So, of course, Paul says in first minutes, 15, I make known to you the gospel that I preach to you by which you are in which you stand, by which you are saved. If you fast, the word which I preach to you, unless you bleed in vain.

And he talks about the cross, the resurrection, but he goes on and talks about the exaltation and the second coming. In the context of. Talking about.

The first important things of the gospel. So practically, then we want to make sure as believers. That we are constantly growing in our understanding of the gospel.

This is why Paul exhorts at the end of the letter, chapter six, to put on the full armor of God, which I understand to be the gospel, to constantly put on afresh the new man and growing in our understanding of what that means so that we can fight against the devil and his lies. But then secondly, as Christians. We need to make sure we understand.

What's the basic substance of the gospel? But unbelievers need to understand. To have a personal conversion experience. It was simple as this for me.

When I became a believer, I've heard I'd heard the gospel numerous times throughout my life. But when my friend died the night she died. My baseball teammates and I went to her church because we heard her pastor and some members from the church were there and they were willing to receive us and talk with us about how to make sense of what happened.

And I remember it like it was yesterday. Sitting as a 17 year old in the pew of this church beside one of my teammates. He pulled a pew Bible out of the pew.

He opened it up to John 3, 16, and he read it to me. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but would have eternal life. He closed the Bible.

And he said to me, Jarvis, this is what life is all about. I did not convert that night, but that verse was one of the final pieces that God used in my life to draw me to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And before I converted, before I, in my own human understanding, converted.

I had another conversation with the pastor of that church and we talked and he explained the gospel to me again that what must I do to be saved? And I gave my life to Jesus. Now I'm a Calvinist, so in all likelihood, what motivated me to want to talk to the pastor was the fact that my heart had already been regenerate. Because I remember I was confessing sin.

I was seeking the Lord before the pastor and I talked. But my point is basically this. People did not tell me everything there is to know about the gospel.

They didn't talk about, Evangelion or Evangelizo. They explained to me, Jesus died on the cross for my sins. God raised him from the dead.

And if I turn from my sin, trust in him by faith, I can be saved. And that's what I did with God's help. So as we share the gospel with people, let's don't play games.

Let's make sure we clearly articulate to them what God has done for sinners on the cross and what God has done in raising him from the dead. And let's call them to the reality that they are, they are sinners and they need God's forgiveness that is there for them in Jesus and invite them to turn and trust in Christ. We don't have to be cute.

We don't have to be trendy, but we do have to be clear. Now, of course, the spirit can work even when we're unclear, but I want to be as clear as I can so that the gospel would work in the hearts of those who trust and believe. Questions.

Yeah, that's very interesting. Do you think that we do an improper service to the gospel when we, just in general, make the gospel as something that has ended? And again, because, and it's, you know, I think of it like, you know, the race, you know, the starter on your march gets set, go. There's more.

I mean, the start is the beginning, but then there's a finish line and then there's the running. But I think sometimes we think, and maybe that's why people don't grow, is because they think the gospel is an ending that that's a point in time it's over where, you know, Philippians 1.6, you know, the he that began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus. You know, you said that earlier, you know, in the study, you know, I have been saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved.

Then maybe we do, again, it goes to discipleship, not a good way of articulating that the gospel continues on in you. It's not a, again, coming to know Christ is there's a finalizing as far, you know, I have been saved, but that the gospel is continuing or should be continuing to work itself out in us. Is that makes? That's a good question.

Yeah, I think, um, yeah, I think we as Christians at times, we see the gospel as only an entry point into faith, and clearly it's that. But the gospel also speaks to the good news about Jesus in every aspect of the messianic salvation that he's brought. So part of that salvation is deliverance from God's wrath.

But it's also good news that the spirit dwells in me, which I can only experience by trusting in Christ as the only sacrifice for my sins and believing by faith in his resurrection. And then likewise, in Ephesians, even Paul makes the point that the the walk of the Christian for one through six, the walk of the Christian in a manner worthy of his calling is not some side separate practical conversation detached from the gospel, that that is wrapped up in this good news because the messianic age again ushers in the spirit. And we can only we can only walk in humility and love and patience by the spirit for the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, so on and so forth.

And then the Bible talks quite a bit, doesn't it? Paul seems to talk quite a bit, not just Paul, but he seems to talk quite a bit about obeying the gospel, that the gospel is something we preach, it's something we believe, something we defend. I do believe that it's also something that we obey. So I'll give you one example.

In Galatians chapter two, when Peter comes down to Antioch, Paul says when he withdrew from table fellowship with Gentiles, he rebuked him in the presence of them all. And he said because he saw that Peter was not walking in a straightforward manner in the truth of the gospel. He was disobeying the gospel.

He saw Peter's behavior toward Gentiles being in violation of what the gospel has done. Now, in that particular context, what has the gospel done? It's brought Jews and Gentiles together into this one family that is focused on Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit. It's not focused on Torah observance.

And Peter seems in that moment, for whatever reason, to be erecting again the dividing wall of the law between Jews and Gentiles. And Paul says, that's not gospel living, Peter. And then Philippians, I think of Philippians, Paul says, Philippians 2, 12 and 13, I think those are two verses.

Work out your salvation, doesn't say work for your salvation, says work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because God is the one, God is the one who is working in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And what does he say in Philippians one, check me on the reference here, I think it's 127. He says, I want you to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel.

So when we, so to your question, I think when we think about the gospel, we have to understand that the foundation of the gospel is the crucifixion, the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and God's plan in Christ Jesus to save sinners. But the gospel also has a lot to say about how to live the Christian life, because salvation from beginning until the end in all of its forms is only realized by the good news of Jesus. The messianic age, this is how I try to categorize this, the messianic age brings about the fulfillment of God's promise to bring vertical, horizontal, and cosmic salvation.

A vertical emphasis is on God's work to justify us by faith, provide forgiveness of sins, to make us right with God through Jesus. A few examples of the vertical, the horizontal, God transforms us so that we can live in right relationship with others. That's why you have these exhortations to love one another.

Well, that can only happen in the power of the spirit because God has acted to transform us. Now, that also has a vertical aspect to it because God is working in us to transform us. But the transformation piece is demonstrated by how we are walking from day to day with one another, but also how we're living our lives in the community of faith and loving our neighbors.

That's a part of what God has done in this redemption. And then the cosmic aspect, the fact that Jesus has been risen, has been raised from the dead, reigning over all the principalities and powers of the air, all the cosmic forces of evil, and we as God's people reign with him in Christ. That's a cosmic feature that the gospel has this comprehensive cosmic good news for Gentiles and Jews in Christ because God raised Christ from the dead.

But it's good news because we're delivered out of this power of darkness. These cosmic forces of evil have no power over us in Christ. And then also you have the language in Paul's writings of new creation.

Now, I'm thinking here again of Galatians 6.15, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters, but new creation. That's right from Isaiah 65, 17 to 25, 2 Corinthians 5. All things have passed away. Behold, all things remain new, new creation language.

And then you have Paul in Romans 8 talking about the current creation is agonizing, groaning. We groan as humans who are part of the creation, but the creation groans. So every time we see a natural disaster, the horror of that is a groaning of creation, that creation needs to be redeemed.

And the gospel deals with that reality. Not right now, already not yet, right? Evidence that the gospel deals with the chaos of creation is he's saving sinners, filling us with the spirit so that we can live in the pursuit of unity for one another as we love each other, as we also love our neighbors as ourselves. So that's evidence that God is bringing about cosmic renewal, but not yet.

But in the future when Jesus returns from heaven to earth, then he's going to bring about new creation in terms of the entire universe, destroying sin once and for all, the devil once and for all, and the new Jerusalem, the new Eden will be the whole world. And so all of that is good news that's connected to Jesus. And I wonder if maybe some Christians maybe have a hard time growing in their faith, is because they think the gospel is only relevant to them when it comes to how one becomes a Christian, but not how one grows.

I don't ever want to outgrow the gospel, ever. I can't. I heard a story once of someone who said to a Christian friend that he doesn't read the Bible because he's kind of graduated from that and he's focusing on some other things.

What does that even mean? You can't graduate from the Bible, because the Bible from Genesis to Revelation outlines for us the good news of God's plan to redeem the world in Jesus and to redeem Jews and Gentiles in Christ. And so we have to constantly immerse ourselves in that to persevere until the end. Yeah.

So one reason, and this is not what you're asking, but I just want to give a plug here for teaching the Bible in your churches, for teaching the Bible, preaching the Bible, personal devotions. These things are very helpful for us and necessary, which we'll see when we get to chapter four. That's why God gives us teachers in the church, to help us not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine.

Yeah. So my question has to do with people who do not understand the need for the good news of the Gospel, because they don't know that there's a judgment coming on their sin. And it seems to me that Paul would have encountered Jews who did know that, because they knew the Scriptures, but the Gentiles probably didn't.

And specifically in today's culture, and particularly in the West, so many people that I encounter, they don't think of good news as something they need, because they don't think they have a problem. Yes. And I find that to be an obstacle in trying to tell someone about the good news, because they don't think of it as good news, because they don't know the bad news.

That's right. Yes. That's a good question.

That's very good. Yeah. You made a very helpful point here.

When Paul preaches to Jews in the synagogue, they have a framework for God's judgment. They've lived in their history. They've gone into multiple exiles.

God has judged them through the Gentiles, through Gentile nations. And the judgment piece, yeah, that's something that is part of their theological vocabulary. When he's talking with Gentiles, I think they had some form of judgment related to the gods and deities and all that, and how the gods couldn't be, you never knew if the gods were going to be in your favor or not.

But they don't have the same framework as Jews would have in terms of this eschological judgment that's coming upon those who reject Yahweh and his Messiah. And so Paul is meeting people where they are and explaining things that need to be explained. So he reasons with the Jews from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ, because that's the stumbling block for them.

They had no problem with the Messiah. They had a problem with Jesus. So he starts with, okay, here's what I'm just guessing about what I'm guessing texts like Isaiah 53.

Here's what Isaiah 53 says. This is fulfilled in Jesus. Here's what Psalm 16 says.

This is fulfilled in Jesus, so on and so forth. When he's talking with Gentiles, he has to meet them where they are. So when he's in Acts 17, it's at Mars Hill.

He recognizes that they have this altar known to this unknown God. So they have some kind of a theocentric view of the world. He starts there, and he says, let me tell you about this God you don't know him.

And then he has to elaborate a bit on things about this God from the Jewish scriptures. So I think for Paul, he's not bashful to talk about judgment to Jews or to Gentiles. And I think in Romans 2, for example, Romans 1 and 2, he emphasizes the judgment of Jews and Gentiles, and he would say the same thing to the Gentiles.

Like in Galatians, he mentions judgment and wrath, Ephesians judgment and wrath. And so one thing he has to do is have to understand, yeah, Jesus fulfills the Hebrew scriptures, and that's good news for those who believe in Jesus, but there's also judgment coming if you don't repent and believe. You got to repent and believe.

If you don't, you're going to suffer the wrath of God. This is what he says, basically, in his preaching. This is what Peter says in his preaching on Acts 2, that judgment is coming.

He cites Joel chapter 2. So practically, then, I think evangelism, there's not a one-size-fits-all way to do it. Sometimes you have one shot to have a conversation on an airplane or at a restaurant, and those moments might not allow for a lot of content to be shared. But I think for the most part in Paul's ministry, evangelism probably took place over the course of having lots of hospitality, meals with people, forming relationships, of course, in the synagogue.

And that allows for, those kinds of interactions allow for more conversation. But we have to help, I don't think we start with people by saying, hey, let me tell you how you can have a good and happy life. I don't think that's what, that's not, I mean, there are people who already have good and happy lives, but they need to understand God created the world, but then there was a problem, and that problem is sin, and here's the consequence of that sin, and here's where Christ comes in, and this is why you need to make a decision.

I had evangelistic experience where I had been sharing with someone for roughly 29 years, someone I'm part of my family, praying and for and sharing over the course of my walk with Christ, and this person changed my diapers when I was young, saw me grow up, and I've asked, we've had all sorts of conversations, but one day there was a particular conversation that really moved him, and that was when we started talking about the wrath of God, and I just gently said, in response to his question, now I wasn't the one initiating the conversation, he asked me some questions, and I said, let me tell you what the problem is for all of us apart from Christ, and I talked about God's wrath and hell, and the fact that everyone who doesn't have a relationship with Jesus Christ will go to hell, and I talked about why, and then I just stopped, and I said, do you believe this? And he took a breath, he paused, he said, you know, I think I do. I think I want to be a Christian, is basically what he says. Now, I don't know if that was real.

I'm trying to do due diligence and connect, but it was interesting that a kind, calm conversation about the wrath of God moved him, and this person has a good and happy life, but he had to be aware of the fact that this life is ending, and the problem is that before God, there's a judgment coming for those who don't know Christ, judgment coming for all of us, but only those who know Christ passes the test, so yeah, I think the wrath of God needs to be part of the gospel presentation, otherwise what's the point of the death of Jesus? I think it was part of Paul's gospel presentation, depending on the context in which he found himself preaching. Now, we only get glimpses of his sermon. We don't get the whole sermon in Luke, but I can see him, as he's reasoning from the scriptures, talking about judgment and wrath.

I mean, if his words in Romans 1 through 3 and his words in Ephesians and elsewhere about wrath give us any insight into how he preached, I think he talked a whole lot about God's wrath, but he wasn't just talking about wrath. He talked about how you can be saved from that, and if you don't talk about that, then you're not talking about the gospel because the good news is good news because it delivers us from God's wrath and gives us eternal life and the Spirit and all these good things. I mean, Jesus himself, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, and then John anticipated that message by saying the same thing, John the Baptist, that is, and in the gospel of Matthew, John's message says, hey, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the axe is already laid at the root of the tree, and the Messiah is coming, and his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he's going to thresh, and he's going to baptize with the Spirit and with fire, and that's judgment language, the fire piece.

I mean, that's really, at some level, alluding to Joel, the Spirit and cloud of smoke, all this stuff in Joel, so judgment's a part of it. I don't understand people who make fun of people who preach on hell. Like, it's like a negative, it's like the word Pharisee.

People use the word Pharisee in a negative way. He's just acting pharisaical, which I don't understand because there were different Pharisees, and not every Pharisee was a bad guy in Judaism, but likewise, people who preach about hell, they're often negatively called hellfire and brimstone preachers. I thought that's a negative thing, and I don't understand that.

I mean, obviously, you don't want someone, every single sermon, just to talk about hell all the time because there's more in the Bible than that, but Jesus talks a lot about judgment, and that needs to be a part of our, on our mind. There's a New Testament scholar who wrote a monograph in, I think it was in 2003, 2023, 2004, that talks about Paul's understanding of salvation in which he argued that Paul views reality from the perspective of the future judgment, and one thing I took from the book was, was what motivates Paul urgently to preach the gospel to Gentiles and Jews? He knows the judgment is coming, and there's, and the time is short. See, the Messiah time means the end of the ages are here, and so Paul is motivated.

He has this, what we could say, is eschatological urgency, like he's missiologically urgent because he knows the judgment is coming, and so he views his ministry through the lens of the judgment that's coming. That motivates him to be faithful right up until his head's chopped off. You know, practically, that's such a good question, too, because I, you know, I want, and I'm not saying I had this, I'm not saying I had this, but I want this.

I want my heart to break for lost people. I want that, and I'm praying more regularly that the Lord would help me to be broken in a healthy way because people don't know Christ, and if the Lord would do that in me, I think that would help with evangelistic fervor as opposed to simply wanting to win a debate with an unbeliever but wanting to see lives changed, and that would also, that also helps us think about, you know, why do we do church? We want to see people's lives changed and see them grow up in the knowledge of God and Christ so that our churches don't become churches that lack concern about those who are outside the believing community. Like, the church is for believers, right? We build up the body, but the church needs to reach out, is my point.

We reach out to those who are not believers and compel them to trust in Christ. Like, if we have a heart for the lost, we're reminded that we were lost, and we're part of the people of God, so we want other people to come in, and the way that would happen is it's through the gospel being proclaimed and believed, not with fun, not with games, not with cool things. Now, God can use all of that.

Yes, He can use all of that. We have to contextualize. I understand that.

I'm not being naive here, but what I'm saying is we can do all the games and all the cool stuff and have no gospel, and people will go to hell, and Christians will not grow in their faith. So however we contextualize the message for the sake of reaching the community, it needs not to be void of the gospel message. Yeah, so this whole, this is saying more than being asked, but these whole wars over traditional versus contemporary worship, in my view, who cares as long as it's gospel-centered and honors Christ, and it's contextual, right? So if you're in a context where no one likes contemporary worship, it would be unwise for pastors to force-feed contemporary worship down the throats of the members.

Same thing with contemporary worship. If you're in a context where people love contemporary worship, it would be unwise for pastors to force-feed traditional worship in the throats of other people because what happens is we're distracted away from the content that's being sung in the songs, and we're focused on the style of worship, and we forget about the gospel and all that, and we fight and split our churches over style of worship. All worship needs to be God-centered.

Christ-exalting, Spirit-filled, absolutely, yes and amen, and I have my preference about what worship should look like and sound like and be like, but the point is is that sometimes we have these silly debates, and not all debates are silly, but some debates are silly that distract away from clear gospel-centered everything in our churches. So maybe if we have a vision of what the gospel actually is and what it does in the lives of unbelievers to convert them and in Christians to strengthen us into maturity, then everything we do should flow from that vision of the gospel. Can you clarify a couple of historical terms? What is the Septuagint, and why do we see it referred to as LXX? Yeah, that's good.

That's a good question. So the Septuagint is a word that she used to talk about the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and I am no Septuagint scholar here, and so there's all kinds of debates about the Septuagint and what you should call it and all this, that, and the other, but typically when we say Septuagint, we just mean the Greek translation of the scriptures, and LXX is a numerical way of talking about the 70, and some say that that abbreviation is attached to this tradition, this legend of 72 elders translating the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, and so we abbreviate that by saying LXX and get the 70. That's one way that people refer to it, and you had another question? Yes, and you don't need to explain all the implications of this, but just as far as what do you mean when you say Second Temple Judaism? Yes, that's good.

Yeah, you know, when I say Second Temple Judaism, I mean the Judaism that emerged after the exile, around the construction, after the construction of the Second Temple. When we think about Jewish history, we tend to think there's a straight line from Malachi to Matthew, nothing happens in between, there's no history there of the Jews, but there are all sorts of things going on before the birth of Jesus, and you have different kingdoms, different powers that emerge that are shaping the way Judaism is functioning, and the way Jews are living their lives. You have the Assyrians, but you have the Babylonians, you have the Medes, you have the Persians, you have the Greeks, and then you have the Romans, and so by the time you get to the birth of Jesus, it's a Greek-Roman, Greco-Roman world, and you have the Jewish scriptures in the Second Temple period translated into Greek, and so when we say Second Temple Judaism, we mean the Jewish way of life lived around the time of the construction and after the construction of the Second Temple going into the New Testament era.

Some would break off Second Temple Judaism at 70 A.D. when the Second Temple was destroyed, and then some would continue on into the second century A.D. because even in 100, even though there's no temple in 100 A.D., you still have the ethos of Second Temple Judaism that's there, and during that period, you have a lot of texts that are emerging during that period that Jews are producing, texts like the Apocrypha, texts like the Pseudepigrapha, texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls. You have Josephus, who's writing as a, he was born in 37 A.D., died, if I remember correctly, 100 A.D., if I remember correctly, writes about the destruction of Jerusalem, looking back on that event, whereas Jesus is prophesying that event. Josephus talks about, gives us more information than we know anywhere else about Herod, the Herodian dynasty, gives a lot of information about Herod, talks a lot about the Pharisees.

He lived that, breathed that world. Also an author by the name of Philo, who was, as far as we know, Paul did not know Philo, and Philo didn't know Paul, but they were contemporaries in terms of living in the same Second Temple cultural ethos. Philo being very much Jewish, but also saturated in a Greek philosophical education to the point where he communicates his Judaism through the lens of Greek philosophical categories.

And, you know, we have some other texts that emerge in that era, but that's what I mean when I say Second Temple Judaism. And one other piece about this, this is important. You know, the word, the word Judaism is tricky because we transliterate that word, by which I mean we take Greek letters, we take, there's a Greek word that's pronounced and we take English letters and we bring the Greek over into English by transliterating those letters so that it sounds like that word eudaismos means Judaism.

And so that word Judaism that we use, we often use that word as it relates to this Greek term called eudaismos. That's a bit tricky because the word eudaismos pops up for the first time in Second Maccabees, an apocryphal text in the Second Temple period, and it pops up as well in Fourth Maccabees, which is dated much later than Second Maccabees. And in Second Maccabees, you have some history that's not recorded in First Maccabees about this group of people known as the Hasmoneans.

And in Second Maccabees, the word eudaismos is a word that talks about a particular kind of Jewish way of life. It's a Jewish realignment movement where people like Judas Maccabeus and others within his family are fighting against Antiochus Epiphanes IV trying to realign Jews who are violating the law of Moses back to a Jewish way of life. And they're doing that by means of fighting violently because of zeal for the law in the spirit of Phineas.

And Paul sees himself, in fact, the only place that word eudaismos occurs in the New Testament is in Galatians. Paul uses it to talk about his former manner of life in eudaismos. And he links that word and his former manner of life with zeal and violence.

And so when we talk about Second Temple Judaism, it's not based upon it doesn't Second Temple Judaism is bigger than that one word. Eudaismos represents a particular kind of Second Temple Judaism in a particular place for a particular purpose. But Second Temple Judaism is very diverse, very, very diverse.

So you have multiple people who were Jews operating within what we could call Judaism who did not agree. You have the Pharisees, you have the Sadducees, you have the Saqqari, these daggermen, you have the Zealots, and you have people who weren't a part of those groups who were Torah observant Jews like Joseph and Mary, for example. So when I talk about Second Temple Judaism, I'm talking about a Jewish way of life that is very diverse.

So I always get really nervous when I hear someone say, now the Jews believed and they fill in the blank. And my question is always, well, which Jew are you talking about? And what text are you reading? It's almost like when somebody says the Baptist believe, well, which Baptist, Free Will Baptist, Reformed Baptist, Southern Baptist, Independent Baptist. There are some commonalities, right? But, but Second Temple Judaism was diverse.

So one question then, and this relates to this next lecture that I'll give, one question that we have to ask ourselves is, is what is Paul dealing with when he says things about a Jewish way of life as it relates to how Gentiles and Jews should relate to one another? Is he speaking about a particular problem within a particular kind of Judaism? Or is he making a more general statement about what Jews would have in common? So we've got to be very careful not to assume that when Paul says things like Jesus and Ephesians 2 tore down the wall of hostility, the law with the ordinances, so on and so forth, he's not saying the law was evil and that Judaism is evil. It's not saying that. He's rightly understood his Jewishness is fulfilled and acted out appropriately by trusting in the Jewish Messiah.

But instead what he seems to be doing when he talks about the law being broken down is saying the Messianic age changes how Jews and Gentiles relate to each other and how they relate to Yahweh the right way. The way Jews fulfill their Jewishness in Paul's view and the Gentiles are included into these Messianic promises are by trusting in Jesus the Jewish Messiah as Jews and as Gentiles. Of course, that has massive applications and implications for how they live their lives on day to day.

What kind of food are they going to eat when they have a church picnic? It has massive implications for that. And that's why you have the weak, strong stuff, I think, happening in places like Romans 14 and 15 and divisions over food. And Paul said, look, just love each other.

Don't fight over food. Do what is best in terms of your conscious. But most importantly, love the brother or sister for whom Christ died.

Don't divide over food. So these are real issues because you have this Jew, Gentile, multi-ethnic community now focused on the Jewish Messiah, which requires them to figure out how exactly do I as a Jew honor God and my conscience as I'm worshiping Jesus with these Gentiles who love Jesus? So Jews and Gentiles in Christ have to figure this stuff out. So practically, much like we today, it's a different context, but we have to sort of practically think through how do we love people that are different from us? This is a part of the Christian discipleship.

How do we do that? But that's to your question, that's what I mean by Second Temple Judaism.