“The Just Shall Live By Faith”

New King James Version                          Written by: David Hicks

 

Romans 1:17 “ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

Galatians 3:11 “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith."

Hebrews 10:38 “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him."

“Articles of Faith”

 

An Orderly Account Of The Greatest Story Ever Told

(A Study in Luke)

Chapter 3:21-38:

In the last lesson of this chapter, we are going to look into the baptism of Jesus. His baptism by John the Baptist will signal the beginning of His ministry. At the end of the lesson, we will look at the genealogy of Jesus through Mary.

Part I: The Baptism of Jesus.

Text:

Luke 3:21-22 “When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

For the sake of explaining the need for this baptism and the significance of the baptism to John, we need to include Matthew's account, as well as the Apostle John's, note:

Matthew 3:13-17 “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?" 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed Him. 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

John 1:29-34 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water." 32 And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

Baptism of Jesus: Since John's baptism was unto the remission of sins and Jesus was without sin; many ask why this baptism was necessary. Jesus answered that question when virtually asked the same thing by John the Baptist, note:

"Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."

God had sent John with the instruction to command the people to repent to the Old Law and be baptized in water unto the remission of sins. Since this was a command of God, follow through put one in a righteous state with God (right with God). The Lord's obedience to His father under the Old Law, under the instruction of John, and in the face of temptations above and beyond would forever stand as an example of righteousness for all men of all time.

Paul told the Philippians that Jesus was obedient to His Father even unto His death ( Philippians 2:8 ), and that we were to have the same mind ( Philippians 2:5 ). The writer of the book of Hebrews states that Jesus became the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him (follow in His foot steps), through obedience in the face of suffering ( Hebrews 5:8-9 ).

So, by this example, those who hope to attain righteousness have but to obey the commands of God and avoid determining if they are in need or not or that the commands are necessary or not !

The Holy Spirit Descended: In the account of the Apostle John, we learn that John preached that ONE would come after him that would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (our previous lesson). However, it wasn't until he witnessed the decent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus that he knew for sure that Jesus was the Son of God (the ONE !).

Although it seems that John had some idea concerning the His true identity when Jesus came to him to be baptized (keeping in mind that they were relatives and it was completely possible that John knew much about Him before this); however, John states that God had told him that the sign for him to know for sure would be the descent of the Holy Spirit ( John 1:33 ).

After all righteousness has been fulfilled by Jesus, God acknowledges Jesus as His Son in whom He is well pleased! The Gospel of John indicates that John was the only witness to this event apart from Jesus and that this was because it was a sign promised to him. It was after this event that he testified openly what transpired at this baptism ( John 1:34 ).

Part II

Text:

Luke 3:23-38 “Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah, 27 the son of Joannas, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

Genealogy of Jesus: Two accounts exist in the Gospels of the New Testament concerning the genealogies of Jesus; one in Mathew that traces His family roots back to Abraham through Joseph whom we know to be His earthly foster father. The second is here in our text and traces the Lord's genealogy back to the first man through Heli, the father-in-law of Joseph (Mary's father).

The two accounts are obviously different from each other until they arrive at David, at which time they are unified. This tells us that the relationship of Joseph to Heli is uniquely different than that of Joseph to his father listed in Matthew's account (Jacob). Add this to the unique lack of capitalization of the name Heli in the original text as a method of the time to determine the mother's genealogy and we can rightly account that Heli is Joseph's father-in-law.

Why the need for two genealogies of Jesus?

In my studies I have come across a quote that simply answers this question, note:

“Matthew gives the legal descent of heirship to the throne of David, through Joseph, while Luke gives the physical descent of Jesus through Mary. Matthew is concerned with the kingship of Jesus, Luke with His humanity. Both make plain His virgin birth, and therefore His Deity. In light of these salient facts, on which the agreement of Matthew and Luke is obvious, their differences only accentuate their value as independent witnesses, in whose testimony the Holy Spirit did not see fit to cause them to collaborate” – A.T. Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ, pp. 259-262

A Genealogy of Life: The opening discourse of the Bible describes the genealogies of Adam ( Genesis 5 ). This is the genealogy of the beginning of man; however, it describes a genealogy of death. That right! As each generation is transcribed the previous one is described as having died. This is because until sin entered the world through the first man, death was unknown.

In stark contrast to this is the bridge created in Luke's Gospel of the genealogy of life ( Luke 3:23 -38 ). Luke records the genealogy of Jesus the Christ in the flesh (from Mary's father, all the way back to Adam; the first man – in the original Greek text, it was the custom to record the genealogy of the mother by not capitalizing the name of her father, this was done here to show that this is the genealogy of Jesus through Mary).

This is important because it shows Jesus to be the son of God after the same fashion as Adam (not as a King of the Jews or as a descendant of the father of the Jews – Abraham, as described in the genealogy of Joseph given in Matthew, but the genealogy of a man), who by sin brought death to all men (a son of God after the same fashion as Adam – Luke 3:38 ), who in contrast would bring life to all men by death (a countering effect to the sin that kills us all). This is to fulfill the theme of the Gospel of Luke, that by His death (brought about by the first man), He might bring life to all men,

This is discussed in more detail in our original introduction to the Gospel of Luke, see: http://www.plvcc.org/Luke-Introduction.htm

NEXT: SATAN TEMPTS JESUS !