Dr. Bingham’s Lesson for January 1, 2012

Guest speaker: Kevin Dodge

“Jesus conformed to the Law and transformed the Law” – Luke 2:21-39

Theophilus, to whom Luke wrote his gospel, was probably a Roman official. Because Rome was suspicious of anything new in religion, Luke was probably trying to show Theophilus in these verses that Christianity was something that grew out of the well established religion of Israel by showing that Jesus conformed to the Law of Moses in all He did and in all that was done to Him.

Eventually, however, Jesus will transform the Law into something else.

Genesis 17:1-14
Circumcision. Abraham was given a new name as a result of God’s covenant with him.

The Son of God also went from having the name Yahweh to having the name Jesus (Yahweh saves).

Circumcision was not unique to Judaism. It was widely practiced in the middle east. In Egypt we have drawings on caves that probably date back to about 4000 BC that show a circumcision being performed. There is Biblical evidence that all the nations surrounding Israel practiced circumcision.

Jeremiah 9:25 – “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised — Egypt and Judah and Edom and the sons of Ammon and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”

God, in requiring circumcision on the eighth day, alters the custom of the middle east, which performed circumcision as a rite of passage into adulthood at age 13.
Jesus also changes circumcision from a circumcision of the flesh to a circumcision of the heart.

The eighth day turns up often in Luke.
Luke 9:28 – Luke, in differing with other gospels that have the sixth day, is putting a theological interpretation on the transfiguration that compares it to the transformation Jesus underwent when He was circumcised on the eighth day.

Jesus was resurrected on Sunday and the early church referred to this as the eighth day instead of the first day of the week because His resurrection fundamentally changed everything.

When Jesus ascended 40 days after His resurrection, the early church also refers to this as an eighth day.

Now regarding the name Jesus:
Jesus became a popular name because the Jews living in Babylon were having trouble keeping the people conformed to the Law and Jewish culture and Jewish mothers began naming their sons Jesus to reflect their hope that someday Yahweh would make things right. Jesus Christ answered their hopes by being the Jesus that would fulfill the hope that name represented. Jesus Christ transformed a common name by living an uncommon life, being the only man to live a sinless life and dying on the cross to provide salvation to all.

Likewise, when Jesus calls us into a relationship with Him, we cannot stay the same as we were. We must be transformed.
Galations 6:15