The Biblical Doctrine ofJoy

The ~ s e n c e ofJoy
The Joy of God in God
God rejoices in Himself, I
Chron. 16:27, His works, Psa.
104:31, and His people, Psa.
149:4; Isa. 62:45; Dt. 30:9; Zeph.
3:17. God rejoices in the
repentance of sinners, Lk. 15:5,9,
32.
The Joy of God in
the Life of Man
God is the object and source of
joy, Gal. 5:22; Psa. 16:11; 15:11;
16:24; 17: 13. We rejoice in His
perfections,
Psa.97:12;
30:5; Lk.
10:20; 21:6,7;
Hab.3:17,18,
His salvation
in Christ, Psa.
21:1; Hab.
3:18; Phil. 3:3;
I Pet. 1:8, His
Laws, Psa. 1:2;
119:1, and
His judgments
along with all
His works,
Psa.48:1l.
The good
news of great
joy is the content and effect of the
gospel, Lk. 2: 10. Furthermore, the
consummation of life at death is
the consummation of joy, Lk. 15;
Mat. 25:21,23.
The Character ofJoy
Joy is constant, I Thes. 5:16; Il
Cor. 6: 10, is imperfect and can be
interrupted, Psa. 38:3; Isa. 6:5;
Rom. 7:23,24, can be restored and
increased, Isa. 29:19; Phil. 1:25; I
In. 1:4, is unknown to the men of
this world, Provo 14:10, is
unspeakable and full of glory, I Pet.
1:8; Rom. 5:2, and cannot be lost
or taken away, In. 16:22,24.
The Roots and
Definition of Joy
It is rooted in the awareness of
the real presence of the sovereign,
laving; revealing, saving Christ in
your life, Mk. 2: 18. And the
fundamental ingredients of this joy
are: (1) . Christ's actual presence,
Psa. 16:11; (2). Trust in His
sovereign control; (3).
Consciousness of His love; (4).
Submission to His revealed will;
and gratitude for His salvation.
The Effects ofJoy
Joy brings contentment with
God's unrevealed will, Phil. 4: If,
and all of life becomes a wedding
festival , since Jesus is here, Psa.
27:6; I Chron. 29:9; Dt. 12:12.
We are able to comfort those
whose joy is interrupted, II Cor.
7:6. And life is a visible contrast to
the joyless life of the unregenerate.
The Way toloy
Get in Christ and abide in
Christ, John 15. Christ brings and
sustains joy through the preached
word, Isa. 52:7; II Cor. 1:24.
(5:36-39) The Twin Parables
of the New Cloth &
the New Wine
"And He was also telling them a
parable: 'No one tears a piece from a
new garment and puts it on an old
4 t THE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon t July/August, 1996
garment; otherwise he will both tear
the new, and the piete from the new
will not match the old. And no one
puts new wine into old wineskins;
otherwise the new wine will burst the
skins, and it will be spilled out, and
the skins will be ruined. But new wine
must be put into fresh wineskins. And
no one, after drinking old wine wishes
for new;for he says, The old is good
enough.'"
The Twin Parables As
Explanations of the
Significance of the Presence
ofJesus with His Disdples
The parables of the new cloth
and the new
wine are a
commentary
on the parable
of the
bridegroom,
explaining the
significance of
Jesus' presence
With His
disciples. Like
the wedding
uL!aphor,
thi>;e parables
or the new
cloth and the
new wine
describe inappropriate and absurd
ac,tions. No one ever uses .new
cloth to mend a worn and tattered
garment; and everyone knows that
you should never pour new wine,
still fermenting, into stiff, '\Irani-out
and damaged wineskins. These are
given as the reasons why the
disciples of Jesus' don't fast as do
the diSCiples of John the Baptist
and the Pharisees.
John's disciples were oriented
to the preparation for the coming
of the Kingdom, especially in its
aspect of judgment, That is the
reason for their fasting. Jesus
preached that the time is fulfilled
and the kingdom has come, "and
it is His presence which is the
decisive element of fulliUment.
The behavior of His disciples
reflects the joyful certainty of the
breaking in of the time of salvation.
They experience the joy of the
kingdom because they belong to
Him. The time of the bridegroom
signals the passing of the old and
the coming of 'the new.' Here
'new' means that which is totally
different; it is a chatacteristic
which belongs to the final age. The
new disrupts the old and bursts its
mold.
"That is why
doctrine of grace and faith and the
life that springs from them cannot
combine, even in a smaU part, with
Pharisaic Judaism.... --- Jesus is
not a foolish person who tries to
combine the old Pharisaic ways
with the glorious new doctrine of
grace and faith and by this foUy
completely ruins both with a result
that is even worse than if he had
combined the old ways with a
scrap of the new doctrine. The
new wine 'is to be put' into fresh
wineskins. -- Cast off the old
Pharisaism wit)l aU its ways; take
Entrance into Christ's kingdom
demands the total renunciation of
all forms of the old life of sin and
unbelief. "There must be no
mixing with the former kind of life
to which a man was accustomed
before his conversion. Jesus
desires and is able to make
everything new in the life of the
believer."- Geldenhuys
Conclusiol1;
The Message of the Parables
(1). Life is full of joy for
disciples of jesus Christ, because
they live in His presence
" ... A Christless life is a
~ o y l s s life, maybe with some
fleeting moments of
happiness, but with no depth
in His kingdom. (2). It
is foolish to mutilate the
new life of joy taught
and called into existence
by Jesus, with old, fallen
ways of thinking and
living. (3). The life of
joy in the kingdom will
maintaining what is old
(fasting as an expression
of repentance in
preparation for the
judgment to come)
represents a
misunderstanding and a
basic ignorance that the
time of salvation has '---:--------------""'l"----' not tolerate any
already come with jesus.
The Pharisaic practice of fasting
perpetuated the old in an
unbelieving mechanical fashion
blind to the new moment which
God had introduced. The presence
of jesus inaugurates the messianic
time of joy when fasting is
rendered superfluous, so long as
He isin the midst of His people. " -
Lane on MARK.
The Assault of TI,ese Parables On
Pharisaisnt
The old garment and the old
wineskins are judaism of the first
centmy, i.e., what the scribes and
Pharisees made of it with their
legalism, formalism, outward
observances and false
righteousness, Mat. 5:20. The new
cloth and the new wine were the
teaching and practice ofJesus. It is
useless to patch up the old with a
piece of the new, because it only
damages the teaching and practice
of the new. Throw the old away!
Don't try to repair it! "The
only the new ways of life that fit
the new doctrine." - Lenski
The ExplaJUltio>I Why the
Follower$ of the "Old" are Not
InclinerI to Accept the "New"
"And no one, after drinking old
wine wishes for new; for he sa%,
'The old is good enough.'" Those
who are accustomed to drinking
old wine have no taste for new
wine. "It has been said that there is
a touch of humor in this
illustration. The point lies in the
fact that people are wedded to the
old because of habit, because the
old is old. --- 50 jesus is not
excusing the Pharisees and the
disciples of john for clinging to
their practices of fasting and other
old obselVances. jesus is pointing
out to these men in what their
difficulty consists: they just do not
care to change." - Lenski
The Demand of These
Parables On Tllose Wlw
Would Be Christ's Disciples
compromise with life in
the sinful world. The new life
which every believer in Christ
possesses demands the
renunciation of aU forms of the old
life of unbelief and sin. (4). The
presence of the risen Christ means
the presence of His recreative
kingdom. Now is a time of deep
joy for believers in jesus. The
Blidegroom is present with His
Bride, the Church, by the power of
the Holy Spirit. We experience the
joy of the kingdom because we
know that we belong to the King of
the Kingdom, Who is present with
us. Therefore, A CHRISTLESS
LIFE 15 AjOYLE55 LIFE, maybe
with some fleeting moments of
happiness, but with no depth of
joy. (5). The result of the presence
and ministry of jesus is the total
transformation of all of life for all
of God's people. Jesus did not
come and is not here to patch up
and rehabilitate, but to transform
bondage and sadness into freedom
and joy.
July/August, 1996 ~ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t 5
The Issues Addressed
in These Parables
These three parables address
two major threats to Christian
faith: (1). The Absurdity of
Despair and (2). The Absurdity of
Synthesis (Compromise). Both
despair and synthesis are rooted in
unbelief in the living, active
presence of Christ and His
kingdom in a person's life. The
answer of these parables to these
threats: They are both absurd in
the light of the fact that THE
PRESENCE OF THE RISEN
CHRIST MEANS THE PRESENCE
OF HIS JUBILANT, RECREATIVE
KINGDOM!
The Misapplications
of These Parables
The theological liberals see
these parables as confirming their
opinion that we must reject
historical truth for contemporary
truth. They say things like this:
"That may have been true 200
years ago, but now we need new
truth." However, truth never
contradicts itself and is eternal. On
the other hand, the
dispensationalists use these
parables to make their point that
Christians must reject the
abrogated Old Testament religion
of law for the New Testament
religion of grace, which view is a
contradiction to Matthew 5:17f.
The Meaning of "Old" and
"New" in These Parables
Old and New Religion
The salvation by works of
Pharisaism cannot be synthesized
with the salvation by grace of the
Christian gospel. All forms of
religion, all ways of worshipping
God and all ways of salvation that
originate with man, and are based
on human merit cannot be mixed
with the pure, revealed religion of
the Bible, Deut. 12:32; Mark 7:lff.
Nothing may be added to or
subtracted from the Word of God
with impunity. "Old" means
originated with sinful man; "New"
means renewed by Christ,
empowered by Christ's Spirit,
regulated by Christ's Word, and
living for Christ's glory. The new
wine of purely Biblical Christianity
is fresh, crisp and exhilarating,
never stale, bitter or tasteless.
Old and New Life
Christ came and comes to
renew and transform the entirety of
life for all those who are His
disciples, starting with a new heart,
Ezek. 36:25f, and concluding with
new bodies in a new universe.
Christ comes not to give you
patches, but to give new wineskins
filled with new wine. If you patch
up your life, it will soon tear loose
and burst. Look to Christ's
omnipotence to change you.
Christ transforms and
regenerates everything about the
inner-life of a person. He changes
despair into joy, bondage into
freedom, conflict into peace,
weakness into strength, death into
life, sterility into fruitfulness, fear
into security and boldness, anxiety
into confidence, doubt into
certainty, emptiness into purpose,
hopelessness into hope, loneliness
into love, guilt into forgiveness, old
habits into new habits, poverty into
prosperity, sickness into health,
stagnation into growth and vitality,
condemnation into justification,
hell into heaven, ugliness into
beauty, ignorance into truth, evil
into goodness. And He does all
this by grace through faith alone.
Old and New World
In a broader focus, the parables
teach us that the old world's age
has run out and the new age of the
kingdom of God has arrived in
Christ. The new day of salvation
has dawned in the presence and
work ofJesus Christ, Gal. 4:4; Eph.
1:10; I Cor. 10:11; II Cor. 6:2.
6 t THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t July/August, 1996
The history of the world has come
to a climax in Christ; and the
world is in the midst of renewal by
Christ, Mat. 19:28; II Cor. 5:17.
In II Cor. 5:17, when Paul
speaks of a new creation, this is not
meant merely in an individual
sense, but we are to think of the
new world of the recreation. This
is evident from the neuter plural
that follows, and from the full
significance that must be ascribed
to "old" and "new." "Therefore"if
any man is in Christ, a new
creation: the old things passed
away; behold, new things have
come." (Notice that in the NASV
"he is" is in italics, meaning that
the words are not in the Greek
text.)
The point is this: It is a matter
of two worlds, not only in a
spiritual sense, but also in a
redemptive sense. The old stands
for the unredeemed world in its
distress and sin; and the new
stands for the time of salvation and
the recreation that has dawned
with Christ.
He who is in Christ is therefore
a new creation and he belongs to
and participates in the new
heavens and new earth Christ has
begun (embryonically now, but
perfected at His second coming).
The word translated, "creature" in
the NASV is KTISIS denoting, not
creature in the sense of an
individual, but rather in the full
sense of a new life and world called
forth by God's omnipotent word in
Jesus Christ.
The Application of
the Point of the Parables
First, as God's new people in
Christ, recognize that we live in
two worlds---"in Christ, and as
Paul wrote, "in Colossae" ---one is
passing, one is growing. Therefore,
there will be tensions, struggles,
frustrations and hardships in
balancing between separation from
the world and conquest of the
world with the gospel. Work hard
to hasten the demise of the old
sinful world system of evil around
us. Live with joy and anticipation
of what God is going to do next.
Live in unquenchable hope and
sense of victory. A new day has
dawned and is moving toward high
noon. If you can feel the joy of
victory, your life is not out of
balance.
Second, what about you as a
person? Has Ch,ist changed the
insipid water of your life into the
rich, full wine from heaven which
gladdens the heart? Has He
brought joy into your otherwise
sad wedding feasts? Is your
religion new or old? Does it have
the wine of Canaan in it?
Here is how to get it. Here is
how your life may be transfonned
and stay transformed. (1). Follow
the miraculous "signs." They all
point to Christ . They confirm that
He is really as He claims. Believe in
Him. (2) . Believe that Jesus spilt
His wine-red blood on Calvary to
propitiate a holy God in the place
of sinners. (3) . Believe that the
Bridegroom is present and embrace
Him as your Lord and Savior.
Jesus Christ is here today as
your sovereign King and loving
Savior. He stands sovereignly
today calling you to be transfonned
by Him and to join Him in a great
wedding celebration of joy and
love now in the midst of a world
being recreated by Him. Come
and join the celebration.
(6:1-5) The Sovereignty ofJesus
As the Lord of the Sa/:>bath
The Actions of Christ's Disciples
all the Sabbath
One Sabbath' in April, Jesus
and His disciples were walking
through the grainfields. The
diSCiples were hungry, so they
picked some heads of wheat,
rubbed them between their hands,
and ate them.
The Rebuke of the Pharisees
The Pharisees saw the disciples
picking, rubbing and eating the
grain, so they asked, "Why do you
do what is not lawful on the ,
Sabbath?" The Pharisees directed
their protest to Jesus because it was
assumed that a teacher was
responsible for the behavior of his
disciples. "They raise a question of
halakha, of what is legally
permitted or prohibited, perhaps
with the intention of satisfying the
legal requirement of a warning
prior to prosecution for Sabbath
violation. "- Lane in MARK.
According to Deuteronomy
23: 25, it was lawful to pick grain
in the grainfields of others; but
according to the Pharisees, this
could not be done on the Sabbath,
for it was contrary to one of the
thousands of their laws defining
what could and could not be done
on the Sabbath. They argued,
since reaping on the Sabbath was
expressly forbidden, Exod. 34:21,
since reaping is the plucking of
grain, and since the diSciples of
Jesus plucked grain on the
Sabbath, then they were in
violation of the Law.
Rigid Sabbath observance in
confonnity to rabbinical tradition
was one of the main elements of
the Jewish religion. These Sabbath
regulations did not come from the
Old Testament , but from the
scribal doctors of the law. "Thus
the keeping of the Sabbath had
degenerated into deadly
formalism." - Geldenhuys
The Devastating Refutation of
the Pharisees by jesus
Jesus' rebuke in the form of a
counter-question not only reflects
the language of debate, it was
devastating in its refutation of the
Pharisees, for it was the total
disregarding and condemnation of
their tradition by One Who
claimed to be Jehovah ofthe Old
Testament incamate, Who alone
has the authority to detennine how
the Sabbath is to be observed; and
He overturned their man-made
laws by setting over against them
the written Word of God, I Samuel
21: 1-6. He answered them saying,
"Have you not even read what
David did when he was hungry, he
and those who were with hinl, how
he entered the house of God, and
took and ate the consecrated bread
which is not lawful for any to eat
except the priests alone, and gave it
to his companions?"- The Son of
Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
How does Jesus' answer refute
the Pharisees attitude toward and
interpretation of the Sabbath laws
of God?
The Finality of the Bible Over
Humall Traditions
The Point of jesus' Reference
to I Samuel 21:1-6
Jesus sets the written Word of
God, I Samuel2l:1-6, over against
the scribal sabbatical restrictions,
as if to say, The Word of God does
not need the amplification,
clarification and supplementation
of men; the only infallible
interpreter of the Bible is the Bible.
The Bible interprets itself, and man
may not interpret one passage in
such a way that it contradicts
another passage. Jesus is saying
that I Samuel 21:1-6 is a
commentary on the relation of
Biblical Law and Christian liberty
which is fully applicable to the
situation brought up by the
Pharisees, and furthermore it
contradicts the Pharisees' entire
attitude toward and theology of
Law.
The Connection Betweenjesus'
Biblical Reference and the
Criticism By the Pharisees
July/August, 1996 t THE COUNSEL of ChaJcedon t 7
The problem with Jesus'
reference to David and his
companions eating the showbread
is that there is no explicit reference
to the Sabbath in the account in I
Samuel21. So, how is this
particular reference relevant to the
situation at hand? In two ways:
(1). Many rabbis concluded from
David's words, "How much more
then today ... ," I Sam. 21:5, that the
incident recorded in I Samuel took
place on a Sabbath. (2). The
emphasis in jesus' allusion is on
this parallel: the association of
David and his companions and
Jesus and His company of
disciples. Twice injesus'
The Purpose of Biblical Law: the
Enhancement of Life
The ReasonJesus
Referred to l Samuel 21
Jesus understood that I Samuel
21:1-6 shows us how to interpret
Deuteronomy 23:25 and Exodus
20:10.
The Reason David Did Not Violate
Biblical Law By
Eating the Showbread
David and his men went into
the court -area of the T abemacle,
where he was free to go, Psa. 122.
He asked the priest to provide him
and his hungry men with "five
Tabernacle, rather some of it had
been removed after serving its
sacred purpose.
What is the issue here? It is
that the Divinely-given ceremonial
law prohibited anyone from eating
this bread except the Levitical
priests, Leviticus 24:5-9. This was
not a rabbinical dictum such as the
Pharisees had brought against Jesus
condemning Him and His
disciples, it was God's own law.
However, neither the O.T. nor
Jesus condemn David for his
actions, in fact, here in Luke 6
Jesus refers approvingly to David's
action in defense of the action of
reference He underscores
this association. David's
conduct included that of his
men. "The relationship
between the O. T. incident
"This is the original
purpose of God's .
His disciples. Jesus can do
this because He understands
the purpose of God's law
and the relation of the
ceremonial law to the moral
law of God.
and the infringement of the
Sabbath by the disciples lies
in the fact that on both
occasions pious men did
something forbidden. The
fact that God does not condemn
David for his action indicates that
the narrowness with which the
scribes interpreted the law was not
in accordance with the tenor of
SCripture. jesus argues that the
tradition of the Pharisees is unduly
stringent and exceeds the intention
of the Law."- Lane in MARK.
The Implicit Criticism of
the Pharisees By Jesus
''Jesus lays his finger on the real
trouble with these Pharisees: too
much reading of rabbinicallaw,
not enough of divine law. They
have only a fractional view of what
the Scriptures say by stressing one
or two passages only and by failing
to combine all the passages on the
subject ---a frequently found fault
to this day. The Pharisees had, of
course, read I Samuel 21,but had
failed to note how this chapter
interprets Exodus 20:10."- Lenski
Law---to guard and
promote life."
"Jesus overtops the
charge of the Pharisees. He
proves by David's own
example that even the ~ v i n
ceremonial law was not
loaves of bread, or whatever can be
found," vs. 3. The priest informed
him that "there is no ordinary
bread on hand, but there is
consecrated bread, if only the
young men have kept themselves
from women," vs. 6. After assuring
the priest that his men were
sexually pure, "the priest gave him
consecrated bread for there was no
bread there but the bread of the
Presence which was removed from
before the LORD, in order to put
hot bread in its place when it was
taken away," vs. 6. Each loaf was
made of about 6 pounds of flour.
They had been lying on the
gold-covered Table of Showbread,
standing in the front room of the
Tabernacle, The Holy Place,
symbolizing the gracious
provisions of God for His people in
Christ, the Bread of Ufe. The
bread David took was not at .the
time lying on the Table in the
intended to be absolute in its
application. The rabbinical
refinements are left entirely behind
as being unworthy of notice. ---
The argument is thus
overwhelming. David's hunger sets
aside even a divine regulation shall
not the hunger of the disciples set
aside mere rabbinical notions that
lack all binding force to begin
with?"- Lenski
The Purpose of God's Law
Jesus understood the purpose of
God's law and the Pharisees did
not. He understood that, though it
has several functions, it has one
Divinely-ordained purpose: to
guard, enhance and promote life,
just as the purpose of the gospel
is to give life. When a person is
rightly related to God through
faith in Jesus Christ, Rom. 3:2lf,
obedience to Biblical Law for His
sake gUides and enhances life at
8 t THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon f July/August, 1996
alllevels---spilitually,
intellectually, emotionally,
physically, and socially. This is the
ORIGINAL PURPOSE of God's
Law---to guard and promote life.
This is taught in both the Old
Testament, Lev. 18:4,5; Deut.
6:24,25; Deut. 30:19-20; Deut.
32:46-47, and in the New
Testament, Rom. 7:10; I Tim. 4:8.
Therefore, (1). In the case of
David and his men eating the
showbread, "no ceremonial
provision must stand in the way of
providing for the essential needs of
Iife."- Geldenhuys. (2). In the case
of Jesus' diSciples and their picking
. and eating of grain on the Sabbath,
the original intent of the Sabbath
Laws of the Bible must be kept in
mind in the observance of those '
laws. Jesus here was reaffirming
"the original intention of the
Sabbath which the extensions of
the Law in the Pharisaic tradition
had obscured." - Lane in MARK.
The Lord had instituted the
Sabbath to protect, guard, promote
and enhance the life of His people
by being a day of rest, worship, joy
and spiritual/physical re-
freshment' This "divine intention
was in no way infringed by the
plucking of heads of grain on the
part ofJesus' disciples."- Lane in
MARK.
The Divine-Human Protector and
Interpreter of the Sabbath:
The Son of Man
The Claim to Deity
When Jesus said, "The Son of
Man is Lord of the Sabbath," He
was expressing His sovereignty
over the Sabbath. As "the Lord of
the Sabbath," He "established the
true intention of the Sabbath and
exposed the weakness of a human
system of fencing the Law with
restrictions. "- Lane. As "the Son of
Man" Jesus has the Divine
authority to define the spirit and
manner in which His Sabbath
should be kept.
The claim ofJesus that He, as
"the Son of Man," is "the Lord of
the Sabbath," is a staggering claim
indeed, for the sabbath was
instituted by the Creator Himself,
Gen. 2:2-3, and republished in the
Decalogue as the Law' of Jehovah,
the Covenant God of Israel, Exod.
20:8-11. To be Lord of a Divine
institution is to claim to be the
Creator Himself! With these
words, the Son of Man is
explaining the divine and
boundless character of His
sovereignty as the messianic Son of
Man. As we have seen the picture
portrayed by this title of jesus, the .
Son of Man, "is the picture of a
Redeemer and Adjuster who comes
in humiliation to save, and returns
in glory to gather up the results of
His work and finally to adjust the
issues of the historical development
of the world."- Warfield, THE
LORD OF GLORY, pg. 121-122.
The Loftiness and Wideness
of Christ's Sovereignty
The Gospel of Mark, 2:28, says
that 'The Son of Man is Lord
EVEN of the Sabbath." The Greek
word translated, "even," can also be
translated "also." If the correct
translation is "even, " it shows the
LOFTINESS of Christ's
sovereignty; and if the correct
translation is "also," it points to the
WIDENESS of His sovereignty. In
either case, His divine sovereignty
over all is firmly established.
As the Lord of the Sabbath , it is
Christ's prerogative to protect His
day and to interpret it properly.
He guards it against perversions
that defeat its purposes. He brings
its promised blessings to their
fullest reality on sabbath-keepers
and its promised judgment upon
ilnpenitent sabbath-breakers. As
long as Christ has. a kingdom in
this earth, He will have a sabbath!
This confirms the continuity of the
sabbath law during the Christian
age. Sunday is the Christian
Sabbath! It is jesus' Day! It
belongs to Jesus Christ and to no
one else! It is not under the
control of men! (to BE CONTINUED)
'The NASV begins this incident
with the words, " ... on a certain
Sabbath." The literal translation of
the Greek is " ... the second-first
Sabbath," i.e. the second Sabbath
after the first. The Greek word is
DEUTEROPROTO, which word
never occurs outside this text in
the whole of Greek literature,
classical, Jewish, or Christian.
What does the word signify? There
have been several educated guesses
as to what it refers: (1). The first
sabbath of the second year in a
sabbatical cycle of seven years; (2).
The first sabbath in the month of
Nisan. The jewish civil year began
in. Tisri, and the ecclesiastical year
began in Nisan, so that each year
there were two first sabbaths. It
would be possible to call the
second of the two, "a second first
Sabbath. " (3). The first sabbath of
the second month. It has been
asserted that the story of David and
the shew bread was often the
Scripture lesson for that Sabbath.
(4). A scribe wrote "first" in the
margin of the text because this was
the first of two consecutive Sabbath
stories. Later another scribe
noticed the word and wrote,
"second" in the margin; and a third
put the two together and coined
the word.
'''The Divine character of the
Law is best vindicated by making it
loveable; and the Pharisees had
made it an iron taskmaster."-
Plummer in THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO LUKE.
July/August, 1996 t THE COUNSEL of Cbalcedon t 9