Thinking Lightly

I've been slowly getting back into translating Romans from Greek to English, and recently my work in Romans 2 jumped out at me.  Here is my literal translation of Romans 2:4-

"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, being ignorant that the kindness of God leads you into repentance?"

Do you "think lightly" of God's kindness and forbearance and patience?  Is it a small thing to you, something that rests lightly on your mind and heart?  The truth of God's new-every-morning mercies in Christ is the most massive, weighty reality in the universe, a reality which should be daily, hourly crushing the sin out of our souls, taking our breath away, and bowing our hearts down before the throne of grace.

Yet too often in the church and in my experience, God's grace has been a small, light thing.  Too often I reckon "the riches of His kindness" to be more like a $5 bill and less like the inexhaustible, precious treasure that it really is.  Too many mornings, the patience of God is a small thing to me.  I rise with my alarm clock and go about my day, not stopping to realize in wonder and awe that God again caused the sun to rise this morning on millions of people-- myself included-- who deserved to die in their sleep and yet have another day of divine forbearance and mercy in front of them.  Think of it!  The sun rose this morning-- a testament to God's love for His enemies.  "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may  be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  For He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust." (Matthew 5:44-45)  And the same love for His enemies that the sunrise proclaimed this morning was also demonstrated, in an even more magnificently glorious way, on the cross.  "While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." (Romans 5:10).  Every morning, we should be staggered by the sunrise!

O, that the weight of God's kindness and forbearance and patience would fall with sin-shattering, joy-maximizing implications on His people!  By His massive mercy, may we today find His kindness to be wealth beyond compare, His forbearance to be an unending fountain of hope, and His patience to be a firm foundation of peace.

He lives to plead for me above

I've been translating the book of Hebrews from the Greek this semester, and this week I'm on chapter 7.  Verse 25 in particular is especially powerful during this Easter season, reminding me of why the resurrection is such good news:

Therefore He is also able to save completely the ones who come near to God through Him, because He always lives to plead for them.  ~Hebrews 7:25 (my translation)

The good news of Easter is three-fold: because of the resurrection, we who trust in Christ are "saved completely," can draw near to God, and can know that Jesus always stands before the Father pleading on our behalf.  We have an ever-living Advocate and Savior in the courtroom of heaven.

Hebrews 7-10 unpacks all of this, and ends with the application of what this Easter gospel should mean in our lives every day:  "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain... let us draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith."  Amen!

One of my favorite Easter hymns is "I Know that My Redeemer Lives."  The third verse in particular stood out to me today, in light of Hebrews 7:25--

He lives to bless me with His love

He lives to plead for me above

He lives my hungry soul to feed

He lives to help in time of need

The Founder of Life, Faith, and Salvation

I'm doing independent study third year Greek, which has been a lot of fun so far.  Last semester we translated 1 Peter and James, and this semester we're tackling Hebrews (which is really hard!)  Today we translated chapter 2, and verse 10 got me thinking and doing word studies.

Verse 10: "For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering."

The word "founder" is translated from the Greek "archegos."  It's a rare word, which only appears 4 times in the New Testament.  Here are the other three occurrences, with "archegos" in bold:

"You killed the Author of Life, whom God raised from the dead."  ~Acts 3:15

"God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."  ~Acts 5:31

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross..."  ~Hebrews 12:2

The word "archegos" means a leader, pioneer, source, initiator, or founder.  The only times it is used in the New Testament, it is used to describe Jesus Christ.  He is described as the Author of life, faith, and salvation.

Jesus is the Author of Life

"You killed the Author of Life," Peter accused the Jewish leaders.  A remarkable,seemingly contradictory statement-- you killed the One who invented life.  Yet this is the mystery of the Gospel.  John 1 says that "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."  In Colossians 3, Paul writes, "When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with Him in glory."  The Author of Life becomes our life.  1 John 5 gives us the precious promise that, "God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  Whoever has the Son has life."  Whoever has the Son has life, because Jesus IS Life; He is the Author, the Source of Life.  St. John Chrysostom wrote, "The life that He has does not come from another; the author of life has to be Him who has life in Himself."  In Him all things live and move and have their being.  All things were created through Him and for Him.  He is the source of everything that exists, and, as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 1:30, He is also the source of our spiritual life.

Jesus is the Author of Faith

"Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith."  In the same way that our life is wrapped up in Christ, so too our spiritual life-- our faith-- flows from Him.  He is the vine, and we are the branches.  He is the Author of our faith because He is the giver of faith.  He "grants repentance," gives faith as a gift, says "Let there be light" in darkened hearts, and invades dead souls with the conquering, life-giving, omnipotent love of Yahweh.  And after giving us new life, He becomes the example of perfect faithfulness that we seek to imitate.

Jesus is the Author of Salvation

"The author of their salvation perfect through suffering..."  Jesus is the Author of Salvation because He is the conqueror of sin, the victor over the grave, and the purchaser of the Spirit.  He is the One who sovereignly elects, calls, saves, justifies, and sanctifies us.  "Those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified."