Mark's thoughts: Did the early Church believe the Holy Spirit works regeneration through Baptism?

 

Recently I have been working with a bright young man who has been living in the Reformed tradition. We will call him Calvin.  As we have discussed the Lutheran (and catholic) confession about the sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar, I have emphasized that it reads Scripture based on its own presuppositions about the goodness of creation, the incarnation, the located means by which God works, and the eschatological goal of his saving action.  This stands in contrast to the Platonic dualism that guides the Reformed reading of Scripture when it comes to the sacraments.

Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit works regeneration through Baptism – that he gives new spiritual life. In John 3:3 Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (ἄνωθεν) he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  When Nicodemus cannot understand this, Jesus replies, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit (ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος), he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”  How is a person born again (or “from above” which necessarily includes a new life)? It occurs through the work of the Holy Spirt in Baptism.

Likewise, Paul says in Titus 3:5, “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας καὶ ἀνακαινώσεως πνεύματος ἁγίου).”  This verse is quoted in the Small Catechism’s fourth question about Holy Baptism, “How can water do such great things?”  The key portion was translated into Latin as: per lavacrum regenerationis et renovationis Spiritus Sancti.

Calvin recognized that the verses “just say it” – they state that the Holy Spirit works regeneration through Baptism.  But he was also aware that there are other ways to read these verses. One can read both verses in a manner so that they are not referring to Baptism at all.  He wanted to know how the early Church understood them, because he perceived that this provides important confirmation about the correct reading. 

In order to help Calvin, I put together a list of quotes from the early Church.  As I indicated to him, I really haven’t tried in doing so. These are texts that were easily accessible.  One could go on and on in providing more texts from these authors, and in citing other individuals in the early Church. Everywhere you look, this is the understanding of the early Church.  

In viewing the content of this list, there are two things to note. First, the early Church read John 3:5 and Titus 3:5 as references to Baptism. Second, the early Church believed the Holy Spirit works regeneration in Baptism – that he actually works through the means of water.  When the Lutheran church confesses that Baptism is “a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says in Titus, chapter three” she stands with the apostolic and catholic Church in confessing the truth of God’s Word:

Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) Then we lead them to a place where there is water, and they are regenerated in the same manner in which we ourselves were regenerated.  In the name of God, the Father and Lord of all, and of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, then they receive the washing with water.  For Christ said: “Unless you be born again, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” [John 3:3] … There is invoked over the one who wishes to be regenerated, and who is repentant of his sins, the name of God, the Father and Lord of all…. (First Apology 6.1)

Theophilus of Antioch (later second century) On the fifth day came into existence the living creatures from the waters, through which the “manifold wisdom of God” [Eph 3:10] is made plain.  For who would be able to count their multitude and variety? Moreover, the things that come from the waters were blessed by God in order that this might be a sign that people were going to receive repentance and forgiveness of sins  through water and the “bath of regeneration” [Titus 3:5], namely all those who come to the truth and are born again and receive a blessing from God. (To Autolycus 2.16)

 

Tertullian (160-225) Therefore, you blessed ones, for whom the grace of God is waiting, when you come up from that most sacred washing of the new birth [Titus 3:5], and when for the first time you spread out your hands with your brethren in your mother’s house, ask of your Father, ask of your Lord, that special grants of grace and apportionments of spiritual gifts be yours. (On Baptism 20.5)

 

Didascalia Apostolorum (Early 200’s AD) Hold the bishops in honor, for it is they who have loosed you from sins, who by the baptismal water have given you new birth, who filled you with the Holy Spirit … (Chapter 9)

 

Clement of Alexandria (150-215) Regeneration is of water and Spirit [John 3:5], as was all generation” [followed by citation of Gen 1:7) (Prophetic Eclogues 7-8)

 

Origen (185-254) Baptism is call “bath of rebirth” which takes place with “renewal of Spirit’ [Titus 3:5]. In these days also “the Spirit,” since it is from God, is “borne above the water”; but the Spirit does not enter into everyone after the water. (Commentary on Gospel of John 6.33)

 

The sacrament through water given those who have hoped in Christ, which is called the “washing of regeneration” [Titus 3:5]. For what does rebirth signify if not the beginning of another birth? (Commentary on John 6.33)

 

Cyrpian (Died 258 AD) Men can only be fully sanctified and sons of God if they are born of both sacraments; since the Scripture says, “Unless a man is born again of water and Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” [John 3:5] (Epistle 62.1)

 

It is through baptism that the Holy Spirit is received, and those who have been baptized and have obtained the Holy Spirit are admitted to drink the cup of the Lord (Epistle 62.8)

 

 All who arrive at the divine bath by the sanctification of baptism, put off the old self by the grace of the saving laver, and renewed by the Holy Spirit from the filth of the old contagion, are purged by a second birth (Dress of Virgins 23)

 

“Apostolic Tradition” (Fourth century using earlier material) And the bishop shall lay his hands on them and invokes, saying Lord God, you have made them worthy to receive remission of sins through the laver of regeneration of the Holy Spirit [Titus 3:5] (Chapter 22)

 

Cyril of Jerusalem (315-387 AD) Great indeed is the baptism you shall receive! It brings ransom for the captive, forgiveness of sins, death to sin, new birth for the soul. (Procatechesis 16)

 

Therefore, when you are about to descend into the water, do not think merely of the actual water, but look for its saving power through the effective operation of the Holy Spirit; for without both of these you cannot be made perfect …” (Catechesis 3.4)

 

John Chrysostom (347-407 AD) Do not, then, feel shame here, for the bath is much better than the garden of Paradise. There can be no serpent here, but Christ is here initiating you into the regeneration that comes from the water and the Spirit [John 3:5] (Series of Papadopoulos-Kerameus No. 3.29

 

After this anointing he takes you down into the sacred waters, at the same time burying the old nature and raising ‘the new creature, which is being renewed after the image of the creator.’ Then by the words of the priest and by his hand the presence of the Holy Spirit flies down upon and you and another man comes up out of the font, one washed from all the stain of his sins, who has put off the old garment of sin and is clothed in the royal robe. (Stavronikita Series No. 2.25)

 

Gregory of Nyssa (330-395) Without the regeneration by means of the laver it is impossible, I say, for man to be in the resurrection. (Catechesis 35)

 

Baptism is purification of sins, a remission of transgressions, a cause of renovation and regeneration. By regeneration you must understand a regeneration perceived by thought, not observed by eyes… Now pray let us persevere, in a more searching inquiry into the laver of baptism.  Let us begin with Scripture, as the fountain-head: “Unless a man is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” [John 3:5] Why are those two things mentioned? Why is not the Spirit alone considered necessary for the fulfillment of baptism? Man, as we very well know is composite, not simple: and therefore, for the healing of this twofold and conjunct being, medicines are assigned which suit and resemble his double nature. … Therefore do not despise the divine laver, nor make it of not account, as something common, because of the use of water. For the power at work is mighty, and the effects accomplished thereby are wonderful (On the Baptism of Christ)

 

Aphrahat (Early fourth century) For from baptism we receive the Spirit of Christ. For in that hour in which the priests invoke the Spirit, the heavens open and its descends and moves upon the waters. And those who are baptized are clothed in it; for the Spirit stays aloof from all that are born of the flesh, until they come to the new birth by water, and then they receive the Holy Spirti. For in the first birth they are born with an animal soul which is created in man and is thereafter subject to death, … But in the second birth, that through baptism, they receive the Holy Spirit from a particle of the Godhead, and it is not again subject to death. (Demonstration VI.14)

 

Ephrem (306-373 AD) Just as they went down impure in debt, so they ascended pure as newly born infants, having come from other womb, baptism.  Just as the river gave renewal to Naaman so the birth-giving of baptism renews the old. To the womb that gives birth daily to royal sons and daughters without the pains of birth! (Hymns on Virginity 7.7)

 

Augustine (354-430) That rebirth, when the remission of all past sins comes about, is effected through the Holy Spirit, for the Lord says, “A man cannot enter into God’s Kingdom, unless he has been born anew by means of water and the Spirit,” [John 3:5] But it is one thing to be born of the Spirit; to be fed by the Spirit is another… (Sermon 71.19)

 

Theodore of Mopsuestia (350-428 AD) You are not baptized in ordinary water but in water of second birth. Now ordinary water cannot become this other thing except by the coming of the Holy Spirit. Consequently the bishop beforehand pronounces a prescribed form of words, asking God to let the grace of the Holy Spirit come upon the water and make it capable of begetting this awesome birth, making it a womb for sacramental birth… (Baptismal Homily 3.8)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for the Feast of St. Bartholomew - Lk 22:24-30

 

                                                                                          St Bartholomew

                                                                                          Lk 22:24-30

                                                                                          8/24/25

 

          Today is the Feast of St. Bartholomew. Bartholomew is not actually a proper name. Instead, it is a reflection of the fact that first century Jews did not use last names.  If you wanted to identify a person beyond their first name, there were two options. The first was to identify him by his city.  So, we hear about how Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus in his own tomb.  Joseph is identified by his town.

          The other option was to identify a person by their father. “Bar” is Aramaic for son, and so a person could be called Bar plus the name of their father. Jesus refers to Peter as Simon bar Jonah, which means Simon son of Jonah. In the same way Bartholomew means Bar-Talmay, or “son of Talmay.”

          Bartholomew is listed among the twelve apostles in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts.  We don’t hear anything else about him in Scripture, and never learn his actual name.   It has been suggested that Nathaniel who is mentioned in the first chapter of John is Bartholomew. There Nathaniel is brought to Jesus by Philip, and in several of the lists of the apostles Bartholomew’s name is placed next to Philip.

          However, unfortunately there is no evidence that the early Church ever made this identification. The first time it appears is in the ninth century. In fact, in the fourth century the church father Epiphanius said that Nathaniel was one of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and in the fifth century St Augustine denied that Nathaniel was an apostle. Probably following Augustine, Luther also said that Nathaniel was not one of the twelve.

          We wish we knew more about Bartholomew. But if we are to remain on sure ground we will have to content ourselves with what we learn about him more generally as one of the apostles. In our text this morning we learn that the apostles weren’t holy or special in themselves. Instead, the Lord Jesus chose them as his authorized representatives who bear witness to how Christ served us.

          Jesus Christ called twelve apostles to follow him. The number was quite intentional. It reflected the fact that there were twelve tribes of Israel.  The apostles accompanied Jesus during his ministry.  They heard his teaching.  They witnessed his miracles. He also empowered them to preach and heal. Luke tells us, “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”

          Apostles like Bartholomew are not significant for us because of their personalities. We learn that they were flawed sinners just like we are.  Our text takes place during the Last Supper.  Jesus had just instituted the Sacrament of the Altar, and had given them his body and blood.  Luke tells us, “A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.”

          Jesus has just told them “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” He has spoken the Words of Institution, and given them the Sacrament. And what is their response? They focus on themselves as they argue about who is the greatest.

          This is bad enough in itself. But then we realize that this isn’t the first time they have done this. In chapter nine we hear that an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.  Our Lord knew what was happening, so he took a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”  The ancient world did not hold children in high esteem like we do. Instead they were seen as being a liability and foolish – they had little value. Jesus told the apostles that rather than trying to be greatest, they were to focus on the one who was least.

          Now Jesus must correct them again. He said, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.” The Greco-Roman world was built around the idea of status. Everyone understood their position in life by their relation to those over them. This was true in the political realm.  It was also true in the social as those wealthy individuals who assisted others became the patron to whom allegiance and subservience was owed.

          This is how the world worked.  But then Jesus went on to say, “But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”

          In the world, the greatest are served by those who are lesser.  But our Lord said that this is not how it is to work with his disciples. Instead, the greatest was to become as the youngest – the least. The leader was to become as one who serves. Jesus pointed out that it wasn’t difficult to distinguish which was which – the one who reclines at table is served by the one who brings the food. Yet then our Lord added, “But I am among you as one who serves.”

          Christ was at the Last Supper. He had said that he wanted to eat the Passover with them before he suffered.  This suffering was something that he had already mentioned several times to the apostles.  As they prepared to enter Jerusalem he had said, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”

          Jesus Christ – the Son of God - was present to suffer and die. He was here to serve by carrying out the Father’s will.  He was here to serve us by fulfilling what the Holy Spirit had revealed through the prophets.  A little later Jesus said, “For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” 

          Our Lord quoted Isaiah chapter 53 because on the cross he the sinless One took his place with sinners and for sinners.  He was the One upon whom the God laid the iniquity of us all.  He was stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions.  God judged and condemned our sin in Christ as he died on the cross. There his body was given for us. There his blood was shed for us.

          Christ served us as he carried out the Father’s will. But the Father’s will involved more than death. On Easter he raised Jesus from the dead. Through Christ God defeated death as he began the resurrection of the Last Day. And then the Father exalted Jesus as he was seated at God’s right hand – as he exercises all power and might as the One who is still true God and true man.

          Jesus served us by being numbered with the transgressors. He did this because quite often we would rather serve ourselves.  Our actions are guided by selfish motives.  Baptized into Christ we receive forgiveness. And through the work of the Holy Spirit we now live in Christ.  Jesus becomes the model and pattern for our life.  Just as Christ has served us, we now seek to serve others.  We put the needs of others before our own – the needs of our spouse, our parents, our neighbors.

          Bartholomew was present with the apostles as Jesus went on to say, “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”  The apostles had been with Jesus during his ministry. They had traveled with him.  They were about to fail him as they fled and abandoned Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. But the Lord looked ahead to the role that they would have as his authoritative representatives.

          On the evening of Easter the risen Lord appeared in the midst of the locked room where Bartholomew and the apostles were.  He demonstrated that he was the same Jesus who had been crucified as he said, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Then he told the apostles that they would be witnesses of his death and resurrection. He said, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

          On Pentecost Christ poured out the Spirit on the apostles. They went forth as witnesses for the risen Lord. Bartholomew and the apostles do not matter because of who they were as people – their personalities and characteristics. They matter because the Lord Jesus chose them to be witnesses of his life, death, and resurrection. They matter because they were the authorized representatives of Jesus Christ. They have spoken and delivered his authoritative word to the Church.

          When I was in Africa, I was covering the beginning of Galatians where Paul asserts his status as an apostle. The students asked whether there could be anyone else who was an apostle today. Apparently, this was a claim they had encountered. And there is in fact a so-called “Apostolic-Prophetic movement” which uses the title apostle for leaders in the church.

          But there can be no more apostles. It was a one generation phenomenon of those who were with Jesus Christ.  It was tied to with the incarnate Lord who lived, died, and rose from the dead in first century Palestine.  Bartholomew and the other apostles were chosen by Christ, and there can never be any other apostles. 

The apostles have delivered the witness about Christ’s death and resurrection.  They have given his authoritative word through the inspired Gospel writers.  We have received that word in the epistles of the New Testament. As St Paul told the Ephesians, the Church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” 

At the end of our text, Jesus says to the apostles, “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Christ chose the apostles and set them apart. We learn that their role continues on beyond the first century A.D. They were chosen as the Lord’s authorized representatives, and they will serve in positions of authority in the new creation.

The Lord refers to eating and drinking at my table in my kingdom. We give thanks for the knowledge that as the baptized children of God, we too will share in the feast of salvation. We will because already now we have received God’s reign in Christ through the work of the Spirit. We receive that reign as we come to the Sacrament of the Altar.

Here Jesus gives us the very price he paid for our salvation. He places into our mouth his body that was given for us, and his blood that was shed for us.  Through this he continues to apply forgiveness to us. Through this food he strengthens the new man to continue to walk in faith as we look towards the day when we will dwell with St. Bartholomew and all the apostles at the feast of salvation.

 

 

  

         

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity - Lk 16:1-9

                                                                                          Trinity 9

                                                                                          Lk 16:1-9

                                                                                          8/17/25

 

          In the movie The Accountant, Ben Affleck plays a very unique character named Christian Wolff.  Wolff is autistic, and socially very awkward.  However, his mind processes numbers and solves problems in an incredible manner.  Wolff is yet more unique because his father, an Army officer, had made sure that Wolff received training in fighting skills in order to toughen him and prepare him for a world that was unlikely to accept him.

          As an adult, Wolff draws upon all of this background by working as a forensic accountant.  He is adept at sifting through immense amounts of financial data in order to determine how money has been siphoned off and stolen.  However, he does so for an unusual and frightening clientele – he does this for drug cartels and the mob and for arms traffickers.  In doing so he has his own kind of moral code. When he believes that someone has wronged him or broken that code, he passes on incriminating evidence to a U.S. Treasury agent that results in high profile arrests.

          In the parable that Jesus tells this morning there is an issue with the financial books. But the owner of the business does not need a forensic accountant to figure out how money has been stolen.  Instead, he knows that his manager has simply changed the financial records in order to reduce what individuals owe to the master.  He has cheated the master out of money for is own benefit.  In our text, Jesus teaches us how we are to view and use money in light of the kingdom of God which has arrived in Christ.

          Jesus begins our text by saying, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.” The rich man was probably a landowner who owned multiple properties and had rented them out to people who worked the land and paid him in return with some of what the land produced.  However, the rich man learned that his manager had been doing an incompetent job.  He had been wasting his possessions and harming the man’s financial status.

          The rich man summoned the manager and said, “What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.” He told the manager to get the account records and turn them in because he had been fired. No longer would the manager oversee the financial affairs.

          A moment of crisis had arrived for the manager. He was out of a job, and his future prospects were dismal.  He said to himself, “What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.”

          The manager had been incompetent in taking care of his employer’s affairs – he had squandered them. But now that his own well being was on the line he became very proactive and shrewd as he looked out for his own future.  He still had the official financial records. So he said, “I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.”

          He summoned the master’s debtors, and found out what they owed. Where one owed a hundred measures of oil, the manager told him to cut it to fifty.  Where another owed a hundred measures of wheat, he told him to cut it to eighty.  Since he was still in possession of the financial records he was able to act as the agent of the rich man in making binding changes.  Certainly the manager pointed out to these individuals that he was the one doing this for them, so that they would be willing to help him when he was out of a job. It has been estimated that each of the changes equaled about 500 denarii – 500 days’ wages.  This was a significant financial gift that the manager was giving the debtors – and a significant act of fraud committed against the rich man.

          As we arrive at the end of the parable, we expect that the rich man will be angry.  After all, the fired manager has cost him a great deal of money. But we hear in our text that Jesus said, “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”

          This morning our Lord teaches us about how we are to deal with money.  Just after our text he says, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”  Jesus sets forth the basic question of the position that money has in our life. This is an issue of the First Commandment.  As Martin Luther teaches in the Large Catechism, whatever we value most is our true God.  Jesus says earlier in the Gospel, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” 

The First Commandment teaches us that we are to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. This includes trusting that God is going to provide for us – that he is going to give us our daily bread. Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.”  He then proceeded to point out that God feeds the birds, and we are of more value to God than they are.   Certainly, he will feed us. God provides for the lilies that are arrayed in beauty. Certainly, he will also clothe us.

Yet in our text, our Lord focuses our attention more specifically on how we deal with our money – how we use it.  Do we use our money in ways that reveal it is our god? Or do we use it in ways that show we recognize what time it is – that we recognize who we are?

At the end of our text Jesus says, “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.”  Our translation says “sons of this world,” but more literally the Greek says “sons of this age.”  In the New Testament “this age” describes the present fallen existence that is ruled by Satan, sin, and death. This is contrasted with the “age to come” – the end time salvation in which God’s rule has triumphed over these things.

Jesus Christ was the presence of God’s kingdom – his reign.  Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, the Son of God entered this world to free us from Satan, sin and death – to rescue us from this age. Paul told the Galatians that the Lord Jesus Christ is the One “who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”  By Christ’s death he has freed us from sin.  And in his resurrection on Easter he has begun the resurrection of the Last Day. The age to come has invaded this age through Christ’s saving death and resurrection.  And so Paul tells the Corinthians in our epistle lesson, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”

We know what time it is.   We know that the end of the ages – the age to come – has come upon us in Jesus Christ. And we know who we are because of this. We are the sons and daughters of light.  We are because the Holy Spirit has called us to faith. We are because we have received the washing of rebirth and renewal in Holy Baptism.  We are those who have been rescued from the present evil age and have been given the status by God as saints – as holy ones in God’s eyes.

We know what time it is and what this means for us.  And by the work of the Spirit this prompts us to live as sons and daughters of light. In the parable the manager tells the debtors to make the change in their bill quickly.  The manager acts with a sense of urgency because he knows what time it is.  It is the time when he is about to lose his job, but he still has the financial books. In the same way, our knowledge of what time it is gives us a sense of urgency. We seek to live in ways that use money according to God’s will because we know that the age to come has arrived in Jesus and that has made us the children of God.

Jesus says that “the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”  The sons of this age are more shrewd than the sons of light because they use their money in ways that are completely true to who they are. They use it as unrighteous wealth – money that is used completely apart from faith in Christ and trust in God.

The sons of this age use money solely for their own benefit.  They focus on using money to buy the better house and car. They devote their money to taking great vacations; to going to great concerts and sports events; to buying stylish clothes and home décor.  But of course, to spend money like this means that you need more money.  And so the continuous pursuit of money and the worry about money rules life as they serve money instead of God.

No doubt, all of us find ourselves described in some way by those words.  We are sons and daughters of light in Christ, but in ourselves we continue to struggle with the old Adam. And so Christ’s words call us to repentance. They call us back to the forgiving reign of God that we receive through the Means of Grace. For through these gifts the Spirit enables us to live in Christ.

In this we find contentment as we trust God to provide us with our daily bread. Christ said, “And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”

And in this we also use money as the son and daughters of light.  We use money to support the work of the Gospel in this congregation, and around the world. We use money to assist those in need in the Church, just as the church in Antioch did when it sent money to assist the Christians in Jerusalem by hands of Paul and Barnabas. We view our money as the means by which we can help others, for in Christ God has helped us.

By God’s grace we know what time it is, and we know who we are.  We know that the age to come – the end of the age – has come upon us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By the work of his Spirit he has rescued us from this age – the present evil age – and made us the sons and daughters of light.  Therefore as we live in Christ we trust that God will provide us with daily bread.  And we use our money to support the work of the Gospel and to help others – especially those of the household of faith.

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity - Acts 20:27-38

                                                                                          Trinity 8

                                                                                          Acts 20:27-38

                                                                                          8/10/25

 

          “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all.” That is what Paul says in the verse just before our text – the verse that introduces the statement, “for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”

          Paul is in the midst of addressing the elders – the pastors – from the area of Ephesus who had gathered to meet him at the port of Miletus.  The apostle had concluded his third missionary journey, and now he was travelling to Jerusalem.  He was in a hurry to get to there, and hoped to arrive by Pentecost.

          His trip along the eastern Mediterranean would take him past Ephesus. Paul had ministered in that city for nearly three years.  He knew many people there and wanted to see them. But if he went into Ephesus it would probably turn into a long visit that would slow him down.  So instead, Paul called the pastors of the area to come out to the port city of Miletus to meet him.

          The visit was probably not what these pastors expected.  Paul said that hardship awaited him in Jerusalem. He told them, “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.”  In fact, the apostle said that this was the last time they would see him.

          Paul believed that this visit provided the opportunity for his last words to them. And so he announces, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” Paul declared that he was innocent if anyone did not receive salvation. He was innocent because he had been faithful and had not held back. He had declared the whole counsel of God.

          Earlier in his address the apostle had explained what this meant.  He said that despite the plots of the Jews, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

          Paul said that the whole counsel of God meant repentance.  He had preached the law that revealed the sins of man.  He did this because God is going to judge all people on the Last Day.  At Athens he said, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

          Jesus Christ will judge all people in righteousness. He will deliver the just judgment of the holy God. And that is not good news for you, because you are guilty as sinners who break God’s law. Paul told the Romans, “For there is no distinction:

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

          Every sin is a sin committed against God. Your failure to trust God; the false gods of wealth, sports, and hobbies that you put before him; the hatred and jealously in your heart; the lust and coveting; the angry words and gossip that harms your neighbor’s reputation – these are all sins that you commit against God as you violate his will and ordering of life. This sin cuts a person off from fellowship with God. And it will result in God’s damnation on the Last Day.

          But Paul also says that the whole counsel of God involves faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.  In our text the apostle addresses the pastors and says, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”

Paul refers to the church of God. And then he says God obtained the church – he made it his own – with his own blood.  It is a striking phrase – the statement that God did this with his blood. Yet it is true, because of who Jesus Christ is.

Christ is the Son of God – the One who has eternally existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit as the triune God. He is the One who made the cosmos. Paul told the Colossians, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

But in the fullness of time, according to his plan and will, the Father sent forth the Son into our world as he was born of a woman.  Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary. He was a human being.  But he did not cease to be God. His divine and human natures were united in the personal union found only in Jesus Christ.

God is the just God who judges sin. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to take our place and bear our sin.  The Old Testament had declared that the Christ would suffer and die. Jesus fulfilled this as he received God’s judgment when he died on the cross. By the shedding of his blood – the blood of the incarnate Son of God – he paid the price for our sin. God redeemed us – he freed us and made us his own through the blood of the Son of God. And then God raised Christ from the dead on the third day as the One in whom we now receive life – life with God, and resurrection life on the Last Day.

Baptized into Christ, you now receive this forgiveness. Ananias told Paul, “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” As our text says, you have received “the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” In God’s eyes you are longer a sinner. Instead, in Christ you are a holy one – you are a saint.

The Father sent forth the Son to carry out his saving will. The Son redeemed us through his suffering, death, and resurrection. The Holy Spirit has called us to faith through the word and baptism. Therefore the church is the church of God.

And we learn in our text that God has provided for the care of his church. He does it through pastors in the Office of the Holy Ministry. Paul says to the pastors, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”

Christ instituted the Office of the Ministry to administer the Means of Grace, and to care for the church. We learn in our text that the Holy Spirit works through the church to place a man in the Office of the Ministry in each location.  There he is to serve as an overseer – the word that will later come to be mean bishop.  He is to care for the church of God – literally “to shepherd it” – for that is what pastor means.  He is a shepherd for God’s flock.

The pastor is placed by the Holy Spirit as the one who cares for Christ’s people in that place. Paul told the Thessalonians, “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.”  Peter tells us that the pastor is to shepherd the flock of God that has been allotted to him.

It is Christ’s Office of the Ministry, and the Holy Spirit has placed the pastor. Therefore, congregation members recognize the authority the pastor has in spiritual matters as he cares for them. But this also has the most serious implications for the pastor.  These are the people Christ redeemed. God has given the pastor the responsibility to care for them. And so the pastor is accountable to God to do so. The writer to the Hebrews says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.” 

It is for this reason that Paul says, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”  Paul could say that he was innocent because he had been faithful and had not held back. He had declared the whole counsel of God. We see this in his letters, which are really long distance sermons.

Paul declares God’s will – his law. He does this to reveal sin. But that’s not the only reason.  He also does this in order to exhort and encourage Christians to live in ways that are true to God’s will. God has made them holy in Christ, and now by the Spirit of Christ they seek to live in holy ways.

This meant saying things that the first century world did not want to hear – things that the twenty first century world once again does not want to hear. In reading Paul’s letter it is impossible to miss how often he talks about sex and marriage.  He does so because these are fundamental to how God has created us as male and female, and how he has ordered his creation. But he also does this because God’s will for sex and marriage is completely contrary to what the world then and now says.

Paul tells us that sexual union joins husband and wife together as one flesh.  God created it for this purpose and couples are only to engage in sexual intercourse within marriage. This was completely alien to Paul’s world, just as it to ours today. But this is God’s will – it is the way he has ordered his creation. To engage in persistent sexual sin – especially as we see it in those who live together outside of marriage – brings God’s judgment. It drives out the Holy Spirit and leads to unbelief – an outcome that sadly I have seen in my ministry as a person chooses their sexual sin and rejects life in Christ’s Church.

The apostle teaches God’s will that marriage is a one flesh union, and that it is a one flesh union for life.  The Greco-Roman world had no fault divorce long before it showed up in California in 1969. Paul teaches us that seeking divorce apart from sexual unfaithfulness or complete desertion and abandonment of marriage is sin. 

Instead, husbands and wives are to live in the commitment of marriage – they are to live in the one flesh union that has been established by God.  This means that as they live in Christ each put the needs of the other ahead of themselves. In particular, husbands love their wives with the sacrificial love by which Christ loved us.  Wives recognize the headship of the husband. Spouses both seek to fulfill the sexual needs of the other, for sexual intercourse is an expression of their unity and serves to reinforce it. And spouses admit when they are wrong and ask for forgiveness, even as they speak the six most powerful words in marriage: “I forgive you for Jesus’ sake.”

As Paul said farewell to the pastors at Miletus he urged, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” The apostle points us to the same thing – to God’s gracious word.  In the Scriptures we receive the good news of the forgiveness and life with God that we have in Jesus Christ. We receive instruction about how to live the life in Christ.

The Holy Spirit works through the word that he has inspired. And so Paul says that it is able to build us up. It is this word that sustains faith and so it is able to give us the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

But in order for the word to do this, we must read it. It must be part of our daily life. And so as your pastor I commend you to God’s gracious word.  I urge you to commit yourself to the daily reading of Scripture.  And here, a little more is always better. I encourage you to use the pattern for Daily Devotion found in the bulletin and on the church website, and the Scripture readings included in it. You can easily access the text in the Treasury of Daily Prayer, in the CPH InPrayer app, and through the link in our website. The Holy Spirit will work through this word to build you up in your life in Christ.

Paul said to the pastors at Miletus, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all,

for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”  Pastors have been charged with proclaiming God’s word – all of it – both law and Gospel.  They have been placed by the Holy Spirit in the Office of the Holy Ministry to care for God’s people the church, because you are the ones who have been obtained with his own blood – the blood of the Son of God.