Title: Why Tense Matters
This is an actual screenshot from the first sermon I ever preach, less than 1/2 mile from here, at Ronk Memorial Chapel on Sunday, May 10th, 1998, roughly 28 years ago.
(Slide)
You can see some of the humor hasn’t changed.
So this was what I was going to lead with LAST week, I was going to tell you about all I have learned in 28 years and just over 1200 sermons about being able to discern the spirit’s small voice, being able to pause when you sense there is more that you may need to dig into…and then I accidentally, using 28 years of experience, deleted the entire sermon from my hard drive.
So here we are.
What I was going to tell you then, that I am now telling you, is that…occasionally, maybe 1/2 dozen times a year, I look at a text and I say to myself “I think I’m gonna tackle versus one through five today. I feel like that would have a good flow for a three or four point sermon with some language study” and then I begin working on the first point and I just keep writing and writing and writing and I realize I can’t cover this the way that I feel led to unless I read distribute the amount of text I’m going to follow.
And this is exactly what happened to me when I sat down to prepare two weeks ago I was originally going to look at covering versus 11 through 14 and I just couldn’t get off the first half of first 11. I feel like there is enough theological richness there to really drive some thought and discussion on this one phrase that keeps sticking with me. So even though it’s a week later than I wanted it to be, I pray you would be joyful and diving into the text with me this morning to see what the Lord has for us.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things having come…
Now you may look at that and say “OK it seems pretty fine straightforward I’m not sure what you got caught up on” for me. It was an issue of verb tense. Something froze me about the phrase. “good things having come”.
Alternate English Translations:
KJV/NKJV: But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come (future)
NIV: But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here (past)
ESV: But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come (past)
NASB95: But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come (future)
You can probably guess where I’m going with all this.
Thesis:
What is the correct tense?
Is the correct translation things that are coming in the future? Things that are coming as we speak? Or things that have already arrived? How does answering that question change our understanding of what the author is actually telling us?
It’s all Greek to Me
Greek: “to come”
mellō
This appears 110 times in the N.T. here are some highlights:
shall (25x), should (20x), would (9x), to come (9x), will (7x), things to come (4x), not translated (3x), miscellaneous (33x).
Mello is a derivative of the root word melei which means, “to care”
So this phrase, difficult to pin down in English might be understood as, not just “to arrive” but more specifically, “to arrive with the expectation of a caring purpose”
N.T. Examples:
Matthew 2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will (MELLO) seek the young child to destroy him.
Luke 19:11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should (MELLO) immediately appear.
Acts 20:13 And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending (MELLO) to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding (MELLO) himself to go afoot.
Survey Time: Multiple Choice
A: Past Tense: The Good things have already arrived
B: Future Tense: The Good things are on the way
C: Either/Or: It must be one or the other
D: Both/And: It is necessary to have it both ways
Like Ben’s grade in his college painting class he only took to impress Mary, the answer is D
Why D?
- It is the option most supported by the original language
- This concept is not new to the N.T. the Kingdom of Heaven has historically been understood as both “Now” and “Not Yet”
- It is the option that best fits the author of Hebrews theme of “The work of the Great High Priest has BOTH immediate and future benefits. This work of Christ also has fulfilled PAST promises, as well as provided hope for FUTURE blessings” (More on this in a moment from Matthew Henry)
Ok….So What?
At this point, any reasonable person would want to know the importance of having gone through such a linguistic, academic exercise, and what the fruit actually yields. We don’t want to be egg headed for the sake of being egg headed we want that to produce a higher level of knowledge and appreciation for the depth of the text. So as we include and wrap up, I’m gonna try to draw the importance of this concept of the Lord already having come with benefit and the benefit yet to come as well.
Jamieson/Faucett/Brown
“good things to come”
Greek, “the good things to come, are, at minimum:
Hbr 10:1; “better promises,”
Hbr 8:6; the “eternal inheritance,”
Hbr 9:15 1Pe 1:4; the “things hoped for,” Hbr 11:1
Matthew Henry:
All the good things that were to come during the Old Testament, and now have come under the New. All the spiritual and eternal blessings the Old-Testament saints had in their day and under their dispensation were owing to the Messiah to come, on whom they believed. The Old Testament set forth in shadows what was to come; the New Testament is the accomplishment of the Old.
All the good things yet to come and to be enjoyed in a gospel state, when the promises and prophecies made to the gospel church in the latter days shall be accomplished; all these depend upon Christ and his priesthood, and shall be fulfilled.
Of all the good things to come in the heavenly state, which will perfect both the Testaments; as the state of glory will perfect the state of grace, this state will be in a much higher sense the perfection of the New Testament than the New Testament was the perfection of the Old. Observe, All things past, present, and to come, were, and are, founded upon, and flowing from, the priestly office of Christ.
Conclusion:
The work of Jesus is the great high priest is completely transcendent. God, the Father, establishes a law that is unable to be fulfilled by humans. It serves as a reminder of our frailty and our weakness. The law and it’s rituals and symbols and animal blood stays the hand of God and buys us time until Jesus came then the great high priest Jesus did come and permanently, fulfill the law and not only was our debt in the past paid to Jesus, but benefits of future blessing communion with him a life without sin are also promised.
It is no stretch to say, in fact, it is an understatement to say that this is the greatest achievement in the history of the universe, the reconciling of a rebellious creation against its creator all done under the guys of this is so important phrase translated rightly “Jesus came with a caring purpose”