Review of Session 2: The Cost of Discipleship
· Following Jesus is costly. Even the most fundamental human relationships will be disrupted by a choice to follow Him: husband/wife; mother/child; sister/brother.
· Paradoxically, the choice to “hate” one’s spouse (for example) by putting Jesus first can result in loving the spouse more. This happens as the process of knowing Jesus and the power of his resurrection redirects and deepens all our other relationships.
· One way of putting this is to ask the question: “How would Jesus live my life if he were I?” So, a husband asking that question regarding his wife, could find that this “costs” him as he gives up his natural inclination to dominate his wife, and instead loves his wife as his own body. Yet, that cost is more than compensated for by the joy of true love for and from his wife.
A Thought Question
Why are the names given to the two major divisions of the Bible: Old Testament and New Testament? What does the word “testament” connote?
A Brief Discussion of the term Covenant (from L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology)
Common Greek usage before the New Testament:
suntheke: an agreement between two (equal) parties
diatheke: a disposition or a testament; in the latter one party establishes the conditions to be met by the other party, e.g. as in a will
In the Old Testament idea of a covenant, both ideas are found. A covenant is an agreement between two parties (God and man), but clearly one (God) sets the terms for the other (man). Thus, in the New Testament, the writers chose to emphasize the inequality of the parties (diatheke) rather than the agreement between the parties (suntheke), and hence rendered “covenant” as diatheke throughout, rather than the more common term suntheke. Hence, the New Testament writers chose to change the meaning of the word diatheke retaining the idea of asymmetry between the parties, but including the meaning of suntheke: namely, an agreement between parties with terms and conditions.
Although God institutes the covenants and has the priority…..God graciously condescended to come down to the level of man, and to honor him by dealing with him more or less on the footing of equality. He stipulates His demands and vouchsafes His promises, and man assumes the duties thus imposed upon him voluntarily and thus inherits the blessing.
Luke 22:7-23
1. What special day was being celebrated by Jesus and his disciples? What had to be done on that day? What was its significance?
2. How is the word “covenant” used in this passage? What is its significance?
3. In all of the Gospels, this is the only use of the word “covenant” by Jesus (except in the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark). Does this mean that “covenant theology” is overrated?
I Cor. 11:23-26
1. This passage from Paul greatly parallels the one from Luke, but adds the words “remembrance” and “proclaim”. What is the significance of these additions?
2. Let’s try to sum up these two passages. How are the following connected:
new covenant, Passover lamb, blood poured out, discipleship.
3. Please comment on this statement from the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 29):
VII. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements, in this sacrament, do then also, inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally but spiritually, receive and feed upon, Christ crucified, and all benefits of His death: the body and blood of Christ being then, not corporally or carnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet, as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.
4. What does it mean to feed upon Christ “spiritually” during the Lord’s Supper? How does feeding upon him impact our discipleship?
II Cor 3:1-18
1. What does Paul mean when he says he is a minister of a new covenant?
2. What does he say is the big difference between the old covenant and the new covenant?
3. What is the meaning of verse 3 where Paul says that believers are letters from Christ written by the Spirit on tablets of human hearts?
4. What is “glory”? Please react to the following statement from C. S. Lewis’s essay The Weight of Glory
It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God..to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.
5. What does it mean to behold the glory of the Lord (verse 18)?
6. What does it mean to be transformed from one degree of glory to another?
7. Where does the power for this transformation come from?
8. What is our role as disciples in this process of transformation?
9. Why is it important for disciples of Jesus Christ to realize that the following statement is true?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Posted by John Dishman at December 9, 2004 08:44 PM