Dear Friends in Christ. Welcome to our first conversation. Read Psalm 2 and Luther's commentary. The prayer at the close can accompany your daily prayers throughout this week.
The postings for each week will include daily reflections on various comments made by Luther in his commentary on the psalm. Offer comments, questions etc. as freely as you would like. Without further delay, let us begin.
"What in the world is this about"?
How often have you sat in church and thought as you were singing a psalm or listening to an Old Testament reading, "What in the world is this about?" We are not as familiar with the Old Testament as we should be. This, of course, applies to the Psalms as well.
Within the Psalms are some of the richest descriptions of our God and His only begotten Son (vs. 7). When reading or listening to God's Word, we often have to ask ourselves, "Who is the writer/speaker/author here?" When we know who is writing we can begin to get our bearings straight about the particular thing written.
So, look at Psalm 2. Who wrote this?........(if you said the Holy Spirit, you are correct, however my question is, by whose hand were the Holy Spirit's words recorded?) It doesn't say.
Don't be troubled oh student of Scripture. As you well know, one of many important general rules of biblical interpretation is, Scripture interprets Scripture. Look around in Scripture. Look in the little notes you may have in the margin of your bible. Already at the first verse I see Acts 4:25-26 highlighted. What do you find there in Acts? Luke writes,
...'who by the mouth of your servant David have said: 'Why do the nations rage, and the people plot vain things?'
So, Scripture has spoken, David is the writer. Now we ask, who is David? Well you know. David the shepherd, the giant killer, the king, the adulterer, the saint, the sinner...that David. So then, we can say for sure that this Psalm was breathed by the Holy Spirit and written by David's hand. This being true, we can further say that any personal pronoun (me, my, I, etc.) must refer to David, correct? That is the first question of the week.
1. Read verse 7 again. If David is the writer, who is "Me?" (If you were in church you might say, "What in the world is this all about."
2. Secondly, read the greater context of Acts 4:25-26. Note how correctly this Psalm is applied to the events around the persecution of Peter and John, and the rest of the early church.
"Why do the nations rage and the people plot vain things?" Why are the kings of the earth gathered together against the Lord and His Christ?
Ask yourself this Advent why are so many groups so adamantly opposed to anything that smells Christian? Really, are Christians intimidating? Are Christians wicked? While you may know one who is wicked or intimidating or be a wicked or intimidating Christian yourself, this is not Christianity! Christianity is all about Christ. Christ is neither wicked or intimidating. Rather, our dear Savior, though He has every right to be terrifying, intimidating, harsh and vengeful, He has chosen to be patient, humble, loving and selfless. He has chosen to assume human flesh, wear diapers, obey His parents, take orders from church and civil authorities and even allow them to nail Him to a tree. That is, death for the Christ so that kings, rulers and every other poor, miserable sinner can have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
Has Christ somehow offended the world by being so loving?
Why is the atheist, Phillip Pullman, working so hard at creating "The Golden Compass," a movie that mocks the Triune God and brainwashes children into rethinking their understanding of Christianity. (The movie to be released on Friday, for more info see http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp )
Why have the people, kings and rulers of the world taken their stand against our "Lord and against His Christ?"
So there are two areas of conversation. Talk about them around the dinner table, at work, play or when you walk along the way. If you would like to respond, jump right in. I will pose more questions or highlight specific portions of the Psalm or Luther's commentary more or less depending upon your desire to discuss the current questions. Feel free to ask questions not related to what I have highlighted. Of course, questions that may be way off the topic we may just save for a rainy day. Happy blogging!
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
7 comments:
I think this is a very important issue to talk about. I will say that I am not completely surprised that something like that has come out. In the bible we are warned many times of false teachers and those who preach what there itching ears want to hear. Therefore I think it is our duty as Christians to continue to warn others of the dangers, and encourage them not to give into these evil things. I have read a few articles/paragraphs about it, and a lot of comments are telling the readers to warn others and boycott such things. Maybe it would be helpful also not to just say don't see it, but explain why it is so harmful.
In Christ,
Becca
Good points. Other thoughts?
So far our questions have been in summary:
1. If David is the writer, who is "Me" in verse 7?
2. Note how the the greater context of Acts 4:25-26 is a very good application of Psalm 2.
1. Quite obviously, "Me" in verse 7 can't be David. Could the Lord have said to David, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you?" No. Note the word begotten. This is a theologically jam packed word. Here, then, is a follow up. If David can't here be writing about himself, then about whom is he writing? Write in your answers to that question along with any passages you can find in Scripture that show further uses of the word, "begotten."
2. We received a nice comment on this question. Luther writes of kings and Lords, "If, instead of honoring and serving this King, they seek to persecute and blot Him out, they shall perish." These are strong words of Luther, but of course, they are only his strong words because they are strong words of Scripture, for example in verse 12 "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled..."
Note, our God is not a wuss. He could strike us down at any moment, humble the proud and bring the mighty low. Psalm 2 alerts us to the fact that people in leadership positions all around you, presidents, kings etc. though they have high positions, would have no authority unless it was given to them by our God. The one true King, the Messiah, the eternal King is not however ultimately concerned with things of the earth, but rather heavenly things. Therefore He is greatly displeased not only when kings, lords and leaders are not only negligent in earthly affairs, but especially when they are faithless in terms of things leading to eternal life.
We must be awake then, to "leaders" around us who are not promoting our eternal good. For example, how do theories concerning the origins of life/evolution etc. etc. promote faith in the one true King of heaven? How does government legislation that attacks innocent life promote faith in the one true King of heaven and Creator of life? We must be awake to a world around us that is attacking the LORD and His Christ and not expect anything different.
Can you think of other ways "The LORD and His Christ" are under attack in our day?
Acts 4:25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David.(NIV)
Acts 13:32-33 32)"We tell you the good news: What God promises our fathers 33)he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: 'You are my Son; today I have become you Father.'(NIV)
Psalm 2:7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me "You are my Son; today I have become your Father."(NIV)
As found in the King James Version, all the places above where it says Father is replaced by Begotten.
Begotten means of the Father.
Therefore the Me in this passage of Psalm 2 would be the Sons/Successors of David, or the heirs to the throne. This would possibly be used when new heirs received/took the throne. David is telling them to be faithful to the one true LORD.
OR
The me is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ telling us what His Father the one who begot Him said to Him.
If you said, "The 'Me' is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" you are correct!
As we continue in the Psalms, we will learn more about the presence of "the only-begotten" Son of God throughout the Scriptures. For now, let's just say this: The Son of God has been present "from eternity." He didn't just appear when He was "born of a virgin." He has always been. So, what should we expect in the Old Testament? We should expect to hear of the Son in a very real way, just as we should expect to hear of the Holy Spirit as well as the Father. When you think about it, it is a no brainer. We speak of our God as "Triune." Therefore all three persons must be present wherever the one true God is present. Since He has been present since the world began, He is actively present in both testaments.
Recall the words of St. John, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."
Consider this. If our God has always been present, always been active, always loving, always gracious, always looking out for our temporal and eternal good, then we are a blessed people. We have purpose in life, comfort, peace and hope. We are not left to fate. But God in His own way has been, is and always will be actively engaged with our lives seeking our good. Because of this, by faith we can say with Paul in Romans, "If God be for us who can be against us?" Even if kings, lords, mayors, presidents are against us, with God on our side we have nothing to fear.
I am placing a secret in this post. The first 5th-8th grade confirmation student to answer the next question correctly gets the prize hiding behind door #1.
Question: Luther in his commentary on Psalm 2 says, "This psalm flows from the first commandment..."
1. Name the first commandment and meaning.
2. What are three reasons Luther gives as to why this Psalm flows from the first commandment?
3. Name the chapter and verse in Romans that supports Luther's claim that "(God) will work all good for us..."
Happy searching!
"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." John 5:39
1. First Commandment- You shall have no other gods before me. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
2. The reasons are as follows:
God promises to be our God.
He promises to help us in every trouble.
He promises that he will work all good for us.
3. Romans 8:28
Excellent work "melanie"
We'll have a presentation for you tomorrow in confirmation class.
Tune in tomorrow as we begin our second Psalm.
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