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Metaphor in the English Bible and the Good Shepherd · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine looking at a medical X-ray.
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You see like the jagged white line of a broken bone.
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It's binary, it's clean, You point to it, and you have a
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clear, indisputable fact, right? But when you step into the world
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of ancient divine communication, that X-ray machine just, well,
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it breaks down completely. You're no longer looking at a
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simple physical fracture. You are looking at the creator
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of the universe trying to explain invisible, eternal
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realities to creatures made of dust.
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Welcome to reformed thinking. It is a staggering problem to
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consider, honestly. I mean, the sheer chasm between
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an infinite uncreated mind and our finite time bound capacity
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is just it's vast. Yeah, it really is.
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We process the world through our five physical senses, you know,
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But God exists entirely outside of time, space, and matter.
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And that is the core objective we are analyzing today.
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We are looking at a stack of sources that tackle the nature
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of biblical metaphors, like how does God bridge that chasm to
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communicate absolute, objective truth?
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The argument we're breaking down today asserts that the metaphors
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you read in the English Bible, the sheep, the dirt, the bread,
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the doors, they aren't decorative fringes.
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No, not at. All they aren't fanciful myths
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drafted by ancient poets, they are the spirits appointed method
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of clothing divine truth in human language.
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Which fundamentally alters how a person should read the text.
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It elevates these words from simple ancient literature to
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precise instruments of revelation.
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Yeah, precisely. And we are going to culminate
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this analysis with a microscopic look at the Good Shepherd
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discourse in the Gospel of John, specifically chapter 10.
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That's a huge one. It is we will see how a simple,
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everyday agrarian image carries massive theological weight
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regarding salvation and authority.
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So if you are listening right now, consider this Why does the
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Creator of the universe use dirt and sheep to explain eternal
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realities? Well, to answer that, we really
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have to look at a concept articulated by the 16th century
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theologian John Calvin. He called it divine
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accommodation. OK, divine accommodation.
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Yeah, and Calvin used a brilliant illustration to
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explain the mechanics of this. He said God condescends to lisp
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to us. To lisp like baby talk.
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Yeah, baby talk, much like a nursing mother speaking to her
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infant. I want to break down that
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analogy because it is incredibly helpful.
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I mean, a mother has a vast, sophisticated vocabulary.
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She understands complex grammar, politics, science, all of it.
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Right, but if she uses that vocabulary, the infant
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comprehends nothing. The communication completely
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fails. So she lowers her capacity.
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Yes, she accommodates the child's limitation.
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She uses simple sounds, small words, physical gestures.
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God does the exact same thing. He clothes his eternal,
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transcendent realities in the garments of human language,
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time, and space so our human minds can comprehend objective
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doctrine. But here's the most fascinating
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part of the argument presented in our sources.
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What's that? God didn't just look down at the
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world afterward, He created it. See a sheep wandering on a hill
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and think You know that'll work as a handy illustration for my
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sermon. Wait, are you saying the
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physical universe was designed backwards?
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In a sense, yeah, I am. The sources argue that God
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created the physical patterns of the universe, the rocks, the
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Shields, the fires, the sheep, specifically so he could pick
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them up later as vehicles for divine revelation.
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That is wild. Right, the physical world was
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constructed to act as a vocabulary for divine truth.
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That completely flips how I look at the natural world.
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So the physical objects are the shadow, and the spiritual truth
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is the actual substance. Yes, and if we connect this to
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the broader philosophical landscape today, it stands in
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stark contrast to postmodern ideas about language.
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Oh, for sure. Because we live in a society
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that views language as totally fluid, postmodernism argues that
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language is a social construct often used as a tool for
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oppression to maintain hierarchies.
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Right, the idea that truth is subjective.
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Yeah, the claims words mean whatever the listener decides
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they mean at any given moment. But the biblical worldview
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anchors language in the Creator himself.
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That is correct. The biblical view asserts that
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language was given by God at creation.
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I mean he spoke the universe into existence.
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Language was then confused at Babel as a judgement, creating
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the linguistic diversity we see today.
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But it was perfectly superintended by the Holy Spirit
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to record the scriptures. So a biblical metaphor is never
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a retreat into subjectivity. Never.
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It asserts A deliberate likeness between a tangible reality and
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an invisible truth to reveal absolute doctrine.
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This makes me think about the mechanics of translation.
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Oh yeah. Because if these specific
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physical words are the intended vehicles for truth, bringing
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them from ancient Greek or Hebrew into modern English is a
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massive responsibility. It's huge.
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You look at figures like William Tyndale in the 16th century.
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He literally gave his life to get the English Bible into the
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hands of the common plowboy. Tyndale championed what
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linguists call formal equivalence.
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Formal equivalence is essentially word for word
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translation. It preserves the specific
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metaphors as they were originally written.
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Right. If the Greek text says I am the
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door, the translation says I am the door.
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It retains the physical object. But there is a competing
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philosophy called dynamic equivalence, right?
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I mean, a lot of modern pragmatic translations lean
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heavily into this. Yes, they do.
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Dynamic equivalence attemts to translate the thought or the
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concept rather than the specific words.
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To make it easier to read. Yeah, the goal is to make the
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text as readable as possible for the modern audience.
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But the danger, as our sources point out, is that the
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translator ends up trying to interpret the metaphor for the
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reader. They might change door to way or
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entrance. They might change sheep to
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followers. And in doing so, they stripped
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the text of its intended visceral imagery.
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It's like a brilliant physicist trying to explain the structure
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of an atom to a toddler using wooden building blocks.
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That's a great way to look at it.
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The blocks aren't the actual physics.
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The blocks are just wood, but they are the only way the
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toddler can grasp the reality of the structure.
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If you take the blocks away and just hand the toddler a
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whiteboard full of mathematical equations, the communication
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breaks down. That is a phenomenal way to
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illustrate the friction of translation.
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If you alter the metaphor, you alter the theology, you remove
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the very mechanism God designed to bridge the infinite gap.
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But let me pose a question that naturally arises here.
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Sure, If God is accommodating our finite minds and using these
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physical building blocks, does that mean the metaphors give us
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an incomplete or flawed picture of who God is?
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Well, that is a critical distinction to make.
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It is not that the picture is false, it is scaled to our
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capacity. Scale to our capacity, OK.
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Yeah, consider when the text says God is a consuming fire.
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God is not communicating less than the literal truth.
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He is communicating a truth so majestic that literal human
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vocabulary breaks under its weight.
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The metaphor is the most accurate possible vehicle for
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our finite minds to process the infinite reality.
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It is true even if it is not exhaustive.
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So if God uses physical realities to reveal absolute
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truth, there must be strict rules for how we read those
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metaphors. Otherwise, reading the text
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turns into a psychological Rorschach test.
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We would just project our own modern feelings onto ancient
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words. And that brings us to the
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hermeneutical guardrails. Hermeneutics is the science of
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interpretation. The strict, unyielding rule for
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reading these texts is simple. Scripture interprets scripture.
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We do not impose meaning onto the text.
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From our modern cultural vantage point, we extract the meaning
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that is already there. Metaphors are governed by
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grammar, historical context, the wider Canon of scripture, and
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authorial intent. Let's look at the historical
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wreckage that happens when readers ignore those guardrails
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because our sources outline 2 massive historical errors in
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interpreting biblical metaphors. Yeah, the first major error is
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literalizing A metaphor. You see this vividly when you
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look at The Last Supper. OK, set the scene for that.
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Jesus is holding bread and he says this is my body.
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Now we have to look at the syntax and the literary genre.
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But Passover meal? Right, because the Passover meal
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was an annual Jewish festival commemorating the rescue from
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Egypt, the entire meal was structured around physical
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symbols. Yes, exactly.
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The bitter herbs represented the harsh slavery.
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The bread represented the affliction and the haste of
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leaving Egypt. And the lamb.
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The lamb represented the blood on the doorposts that secured
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their rescue. So when Jesus holds the bread
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and says this is my body, the grammatical and historical
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context dictates it is a substitutionary representation.
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He's fulfilling the symbol. Yes, he is saying I am the true
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substance that this shadow has been pointing to all along.
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But if a reader ignores that context and literalizes the
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metaphor. Then you arrive at the Roman
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Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.
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You conclude that the physical molecules of the bread actually
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transform into human flesh, and the wine transforms into literal
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blood, while maintaining the outward appearance of bread and
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wine. Which is a huge.
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Leap. It is an exegetical fallacy.
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It results from ignoring the boundaries of the metaphor and
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forcing A literal grid over a symbolic syntax.
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And then the pendulum swings to the absolute opposite.
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Extreme error #2 metaphylizing history, yeah.
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Theological liberalism in the 19th and 20th centuries
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committed this opposite fallacy. Extensive like who?
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Scholars like Rudolf Boltman wanted to demythologize the
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Bible. They took literal historical
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events, the bodily resurrection of Christ, the six day creation
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account, the historical exodus, and they reduce them to
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spiritual poetry. They.
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Treat the historical events as fables that teach a moral
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lesson. Yes.
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They look at the empty tomb and say, well, the resurrection did
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not actually happen in time and space, but it is the beautiful
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metaphor for springtime, new beginnings and overcoming
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personal adversity which. Completely guts the Christian
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faith. I mean, if the resurrection is
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just a metaphor for personal growth, then death is still the
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undefeated champion of the world.
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Absolutely. A metaphor always points to a
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literal reality, but it must never be confused with the
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reality itself. When Christ says I am the door,
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the literary context is a discourse on salvation.
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He is not claiming to be made of wood swinging on metal hinges.
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He is claiming to be the objective, literal point of
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entry for eternal life. The physical object points to a
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literal spiritual mechanism if. You are listening to this right
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now. Think about your own reading
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habits. I mean, we all bring our
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cultural baggage, our assumptions, and our modern
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sensibilities to the text we do. So how does a reader
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successfully stay in the middle lane?
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How do we stop our imaginations from running wild with an
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ancient image? Staying in the middle lane
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requires you to look at the historical dirt and sweat of the
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ancient world. You cannot read a 1st century
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text with a 21st century suburban mindset.
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That's a good one. You have to plunge your mind
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into the history, the politics and the agriculture of the
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ancient Near East to pull out the actual meaning of the
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English text which brings. Us directly to the dirt and
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sweat of 1st century Israel in John chapter 10.
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Let's set the seam, because when modern readers see the phrase
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Good Shepherd, they often picture like a pleasant rural
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stained glass window. Oh.
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Yeah, a very pastoral, quiet scene, right?
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They picture a soft, gentle figure holding a lamb.
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But the context of John 10 is actually a furious judicial
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verdict context. Dictates everything here.
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John 10 follows immediately after the events of John 9, and
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what happens in John 9 is highly disruptive Jesus heals a man who
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was born blind that. Is a massive public miracle.
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You would expect celebration instead.
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You get an interrogation. The religious leaders, the
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Pharisees, drag this healed man in for questioning.
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They refuse to accept his testimony about Jesus.
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They just. Won't hear it, no.
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When the healed man points out the obvious fact that only
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someone sent from God could open the eyes of the blind, the
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religious leaders become enraged and they cast him out of the
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synagogue. We need to.
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Explain what being cast out of the synagogue actually meant in
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that society. It was not like being asked to
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leave a modern social club. Oh, it was a.
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Devastating blow. The synagogue was the center of
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social, economic and religious life.
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Being cast out meant total alienation.
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Your family would likely shun you.
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You could not conduct business in the marketplace.
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You were considered a spiritual leper.
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It was a form of social and economic death.
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So the blind man receives his physical sight, but he is thrown
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to the wolves by the very people who are supposed to be caring
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for his spiritual well-being. Precisely.
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So when Jesus begins speaking in John 10, He is delivering A
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verdict upon these leaders. They claim they have spiritual
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sight, but they are entirely blind and abusive.
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Let's. Dig into the ancient near
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Eastern background of the shepherd imagery.
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Because Jesus isn't pulling a random blue collar job from the
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classifieds to use as a sermon illustration.
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Not at all. In the ancient world, kings,
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emperors and rulers were routinely described as
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shepherds. It was a well established
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political metaphor. OK.
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So it had political weight, yes. A king was responsible to guide,
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guard, and provide for the people, just as a shepherd
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provides for the flock. But the specific theological
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backdrop Jesus is invoking here is Ezekiel chapter 34.
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Ezekiel 34 is one of the most intense indictments of
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leadership in the Old Testament. It is a blistering critique.
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Yahweh indicts the false shepherds of Israel.
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He says to them. You eat the fat, you clothe
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yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you
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do not feed the sheep they were. Just using the people the.
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Leaders were treating the people like a commodity.
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They were devouring the flock for their own gain while leaving
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the vulnerable exposed to predators.
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They were. Parasites, yes.
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Exactly. And in response to this
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parasitic leadership, Yahweh makes a stunning absolute
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promise. He says I myself will be the
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shepherd of my sheep. God promises to personally
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intervene and take over the care of the flock it.
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Makes me think of a corporate environment.
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It is as if the founder and owner of a massive company
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discovers that the management at a specific branch office is
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embezzling funds and abusing the employees right.
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The owner does not just send a memo, he walks through the front
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doors, fires the corrupt management on the spot and says
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I am taking over operations personally that.
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Captures the dynamic perfectly. Jesus is stepping into that
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exact prophetic expectation. He's looking at the Pharisees
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who just threw the blind man out, and he is invoking Ezekiel
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34. And the people would have caught
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that immediately, yes. And the social setting of the
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region amplifies the weight of this claim.
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In ancient Israel, sheep were highly vulnerable.
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They lacked natural defenses. They were entirely dependent on
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the Shepherd for survival and. How were they kept at night?
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Well. At night, multiple flocks would
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often share a single walled sheepfold for protection against
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predators and thieves and the. Fold only had one entrance, yes.
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A Stonewall with a single gap. A higher doorkeeper would guard
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the entrance at night. In the morning, the rifle
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shepherd would arrive, stand at the gate and call out with his
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voice and the. Sheep would know his.
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Specific sheep would recognize his distinct vocal tones,
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separate themselves from the mass of other animals, and
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follow him out to the pasture. The.
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People listening to Jesus knew the visceral difference between
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an owner and a thief. They lived in that agricultural
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reality every single day. They knew.
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The mechanics of it, the imagery, carried ordinary gritty
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realism and massive covenantal resonance at the exact same
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time. So.
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Jesus begins this absolute takeover by focusing not on the
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green pasture, but on the gate itself.
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Let's look at the exegesis of the exclusive gate.
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This is the first movement of John 10 covering verses one
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through 10. Jesus starts by establishing a
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contrast He contrasts the legitimate shepherd with the
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thief OK, the one who does not enter by the door but climbs in
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another way over the wall is a thief and a robber.
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The legitimate shepherd enters through the door, and the sheep
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hear his voice, but the. Crowd doesn't get it at first,
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no. The crowd listening to him does
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not understand the figure of speech.
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They are missing the point. So Jesus speaks plainly.
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He declares I am the door of the sheep.
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Wait, let's pause right there. When Jesus says I am, is there
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something specific happening in the original language or is he
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just speaking casually like saying I am a Carpenter?
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Oh, the underlying Greek construction is massive.
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The phrase is ego, Amy. It is not a casual identifier.
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It is the direct equivalent of the sacred Tetragrammaton Yahweh
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the. Name revealed at the burning
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Bush in Exodus 3. When Moses asks God for his
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name, God replies IMWHOIM, the Greek translation of the Old
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Testament. The Septuagint translates that
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as Ego Amy. Wow.
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By using this specific grammatical construction, Jesus
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is explicitly claiming divine identity.
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He is identifying himself as the uncreated creator, and by saying
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I am the door, he is claiming absolute exclusivity.
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So he's. Been claiming to be like a
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helpful teacher standing near the door pointing the way so
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people can walk past him, no? He is the literal mechanism of
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entry. The phrase by me carries the
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concept of necessary mediation meaning.
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You have to go through him, yes. All who came before I'm claiming
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to be the Messiah or attempting to offer salvation through human
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works or corrupt leadership were thieves.
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Salvation is found only in vital union with Him and access
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through Him. The.
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Contrast he draws in verse 10 hits like a hammer.
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I will read it. The thief comes only to steal
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and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life
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and have it abundantly. That specific phrase, abundant
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life, requires careful analysis because it is frequently
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weaponized by the modern prosperity gospel.
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Let's. Break that down.
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You turn on the television and you hear prosperity preachers
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taking the phrase abundant life and making it about private
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jets, perfect health and zero financial stress.
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Yeah. We've all seen it, they claim.
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That if you have enough faith, Jesus guarantees a life of
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material luxury, Which. Is a complete carnalization of
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Christ's promise. It reduces eternal realities
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back down to the temporary dirt. The thief comes to take life.
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False teachers use religious language, but they rob God of
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His glory, and they rob human consciences of peace.
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Christ, however, gives abundant life.
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But if you study the Gospel of John, abundant life is never
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equated with earthly ease. What does it actually?
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Mean in the context of the Greek text it.
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Means the life of the age to come, breaking into the present.
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It is eschatological, OK. Eschatological it features.
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Reconciliation with the Father, the complete forgiveness of sins
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and the absolute certainty of resurrection.
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Hope It is a quality of spiritual life that sustains a
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person even if they are impoverished, persecuted, or
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facing martyrdom. Let's.
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Speak to the pluralistic reality of our own culture for a second.
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The modern world absolutely hates the idea of an exclusive
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door. Oh.
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Without a doubt it sounds. Narrow.
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It sounds arrogant. We live in a society that
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insists all religious paths lead up the same mountain.
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How did the original audience living under the Roman Empire
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react to a claim that nullified every other religious entrance
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it? Was wildly offensive.
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The Roman Empire was fundamentally pluralistic.
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They were happy to add another God to their massive pantheon,
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right? Just.
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Put another statue in the temple exactly.
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You could worship the emperor, worship the local deities, and
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participate in mystery cults all at the same time.
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Pluralism was the air they breathed, much like our culture
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today. But Christianity arrived and
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claimed there was only one mediator between God and men.
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It. Nullified the Pagan temples and
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it nullified the corrupt Jewish leadership, Yes.
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It was a dangerous, exclusive claim that threatened the entire
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social and economic order. But we have to understand the
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logic of the metaphor. The exclusive door is only safe
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because of the nature of the one guarding it, Which.
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Shifts the image from a mechanism of access to a
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mechanism of sacrifice. This brings us to the apex of
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the passage, verse 11. I am the Good Shepherd.
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The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
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The precision of the Greek text here is breathtaking.
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The word translated good is kalos does.
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That just mean morally good, like doing the right thing it
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is. Deeper than that, the Greek
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language has another word for morally good agathos.
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But kalos means noble, excellent, beautiful in
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character, and genuine in moral worth.
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It has a. Weight to it it.
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Implies A heroic quality, and then you look at the primary
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verb lays down. This proves voluntary action.
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Jesus. Is not a helpless victim
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overpowered by the Roman military machine or the scheming
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religious leaders he is. Not a martyr caught in a bad
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political situation, he intentionally, deliberately
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gives himself. The theological weight of this
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action falls entirely on the Greek preposition used in the
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sentence What? Is the preposition.
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The word is hyper. It translates to on behalf of,
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or as a substitute for paired with a specific object in the
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sentence the sheep. This grammatical structure
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establishes the bedrock doctrine of definite atonement, which
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theologians also call particular redemption.
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We need. To explain the mechanics of
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that, because it destroys a lot of popular modern theology.
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What is the alternative to definite atonement?
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Well. A vast amount of modern
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theology, specifically Armenian views, suggests that Christ died
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a hypothetical death for a faceless mass of humanity,
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meaning. He died for everyone,
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theoretically, right? In that view, the cross simply
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makes salvation a possibility for anyone who decides to
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activate it through their own free will.
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The atonement is universal in its scope, but ineffectual on
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his own but. How does the syntax of John 10
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dismantle that? Because Christ says He lays down
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his life for the sheep, He acts as a vicarious substitute.
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He steps into the path of God's wrath, absorbing the penalty of
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sin, and he actually secure salvation for his specific elect
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flock. He does not make salvation a
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mere possibility. He accomplishes it fully for a
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definite group of people it makes.
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Me. Think about the hireling
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mentioned later in the passage. The hireling sees the wolf
22:05
coming and runs away. A hireling is like a mercenary
22:08
security guard. Yeah, that's a.
22:09
Good comparison. Imagine you pay a guy $10.00 an
22:13
hour to sit in your living room and watch your house.
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In the middle of the night, an armed gang kicks the front door
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down. The mercenary calculates his
22:21
hourly wage against the imminent threat to his life, drops his
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flashlight and runs out the back door.
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Because. He cares nothing for the sheep,
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the text explicitly says they do not belong to him.
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He has no vital connection to them.
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Right. But Christ is the father of the
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house when the door gets kicked in.
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A father does not calculate risk.
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He does not evaluate whether the children are worth the trouble.
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No. Never he.
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Intentionally steps between the intruders and his family, taking
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the fatal blow to ensure they survive that.
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Analogy highlights the motivation perfectly his
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goodness is defined by self giving death he meets the danger
22:57
head on the wolf of death, the curse of the broken law, the
23:00
guilt of human thin he absorbs all of it as a substitute but
23:04
let's. Look at the psychology of that
23:06
sacrifice. You do not step in front of a
23:08
fatal blow for a random group of strangers.
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You do it for your own. Exactly the.
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Substitutionary death is rooted in an ancient intimate
23:16
knowledge. Let's look at verses 14 through
23:19
16. Christ says I know my own, and
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my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the
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Father. This is an analogy that should
23:27
bring a reader to their knees. The relationship between the
23:30
believer and Christ is modeled directly on the eternal
23:33
communion of the Trinity that. Is heavy it?
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Is the knowledge between the shepherd and the sheep reflects
23:38
the perfect, unbroken communion of the Father and the Son?
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But how? Does that work in terms of
23:43
sequence? Who initiates that knowledge?
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Do I figure out who Jesus is and then he knows me?
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No. Christ knowledge is entirely
23:50
prior, it is sovereign, and it is effective.
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He knows His own before they are even aware of Him.
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OK. So he acts first.
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Always the sheep's knowledge of Christ is responsive.
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It is wrought by the regenerating work of the Holy
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Spirit. We hear His voice because He
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first calls us by name. Salvation is not an impersonal
24:10
bureaucratic transaction. It is a vital communion secured
24:13
entirely by the Mediator and. Then he drops a bombshell about
24:18
the scope of his mission. He says, I have other sheep that
24:21
are not of this fold. I must bring them also, right?
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To a 1st century Jewish audience, the other sheep refers
24:27
to the Gentiles, the nations outside of ethnic Israel and.
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Look at the wording there. Notice the language of divine
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necessity uses. I must bring them.
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They already belong to Him by the Father's electing purpose
24:39
from before the foundation of the world before.
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They even believe yes. They belong to Him before they
24:44
even hear the gospel preached in history.
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The global mission to the nations rests securely on the
24:49
Shepherd's prior ownership. Let's.
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Make this highly practical for a second.
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If you are a believer waking up on a Tuesday morning and you
24:56
feel like your faith is incredibly weak, you feel like
24:58
you are barely holding on. We've all.
25:00
Been there if. Salvation relies entirely on the
25:02
Shepherd's prior knowledge and effectual call.
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How does that doctrine actually comfort you it?
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Provides the only objective ground for comfort.
25:11
Assurance rests entirely in the shepherd's grip on the sheep,
25:15
not the sheep's grip on the shepherd.
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Oh. That's a crucial distinction if
25:19
your. Salvation depended on your
25:20
emotional steadiness, or the strength of your daily faith, or
25:24
your ability to perfectly understand theology.
25:27
You would be lost before noon. Yeah.
25:29
I would be but. Jesus says he calls his own by
25:32
name. He knows them.
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The believer with weak faith can take comfort because the Good
25:37
Shepherd does not lose a single member of his flock.
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The mechanism of preservation is in His hands, not ours.
25:44
That shifts the entire weight of the Christian life off human
25:47
performance and places it on to divine fidelity.
25:50
And that leads directly into how these ancient metaphors dictate
25:53
the practical life of the modern church.
25:55
They. Absolutely do.
25:56
We are. Moving into the application
25:58
phase of this analysis, because biblical metaphors are not just
26:01
academic theories to be debated in a classroom, they demand
26:04
obedience, they. Establish the rules of
26:06
engagement for everything we do. Let's look at how other biblical
26:09
metaphors build this case alongside the Good Shepherd.
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Like what? Consider soteriology, the
26:14
doctrine of salvation. In Ephesians chapter 2, the
26:18
apostle Paul describes humanity before Christ as a corpse.
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The Greek phrase is ondas necras, dead in trespasses and
26:25
sins. Let's.
26:26
Follow the logic of that physical metaphor, A corpse
26:29
cannot assist the paramedic in its own resuscitation exactly.
26:33
A dead body cannot respond to medical advice.
26:36
It cannot decide to start breathing.
26:38
It requires an external, unilateral resurrection.
26:41
This metaphor demands the doctrine of monarchistic grace.
26:45
Let's define. Monarchism for everyone
26:46
listening the word. Comes from the Greek prefix mono
26:49
meaning 1 and ergon meaning work, one worker God.
26:52
Alone, God. Alone works the miracle of the
26:54
new birth. The human will is dead and
26:56
cannot cooperate. The opposing view is synergism.
26:59
Sin, meaning with synergism, suggests we cooperate with God
27:03
to earn our initial salvation. But the metaphor of a physical
27:06
corpse destroys the concept of human synergism.
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What? About ecclesiology how we
27:11
organize and run the local church, the.
27:13
Church is repeatedly described in the New Testament as a flock,
27:16
a bride, and a body. It is distinct from the national
27:20
political identity of Israel in the Old Testament, which was
27:23
given literal earthly promises involving land and geopolitical
27:26
borders. So the church operates on a
27:28
different dynamic, yes. The church is a heavenly mystery
27:32
composed of Jew and Gentile because its primary identity is
27:36
a flock, the modern church growth movement fails completely
27:40
let's. Breakdown that friction.
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Where does the modern church growth model go wrong it.
27:44
Fails because it adopts the wrong metaphor.
27:47
It treats the church as a corporate entity.
27:49
It treats the pastor as ACEO, whose job is to manage a brand,
27:53
increase market share, and optimize efficiency.
27:56
I see. That a lot and it.
27:57
Treats the congregation as a demographic of consumers who
28:00
need to be marketed to with entertaining programs, which.
28:03
Creates a massive conflict in metrics.
28:06
A Fortune 500 company measures success by quarterly financial
28:09
growth, scalability and customer satisfaction.
28:12
But a shepherd measures success by the health, holiness and
28:15
safety of the sheep, even if the flock remains small and
28:18
unimpressive to the outside world.
28:20
Trying to apply corporate metrics to a spiritual flock is
28:23
a disaster. It is like trying to fix a
28:26
complex computer motherboard using a hammer and a wrench.
28:29
The tools belong to a completely different mechanism.
28:32
That analogy highlights the destructive nature of swapping
28:35
metaphors. Pastors are called to be under
28:37
shepherds. Their primary mandate is to feed
28:40
the flock with the objective truth of the Word, not entertain
28:43
them with secular management strategies or psychological pep
28:46
talks. And there is another critical
28:48
application regarding God's character.
28:51
God repeatedly uses the metaphor of Father to describe himself.
28:55
In the modern Western world, the concept of fatherhood is often
28:58
viewed through a very soft, sentimental, almost therapeutic
29:02
lens. A father is just a nice guy who
29:04
provides emotional support, but. How would the ancient audience
29:07
have understood the word Father in the?
29:09
Ancient world it operated under the legal and cultural context
29:13
of Roman patriot potetas, the absolute power of the father, or
29:17
the strict Hebrew patriarchal structures which.
29:19
Meant what? Practically under.
29:21
Roman law. The father had the absolute
29:24
authority of life and death over his household.
29:27
He was the provider, the protector and the unquestioned
29:30
law giver. So.
29:30
The metaphor carries weight. Authority and reverence, yes.
29:35
The biblical use of masculine pronouns and metaphors for God
29:39
establishes A strict complementarian framework for
29:42
understanding, authority and submission.
29:44
And you? Can't just change that.
29:45
No, this framework cannot be altered, softened or edited by
29:49
modern egalitarianism or feminist theology without
29:53
striking at the very nature of God's self revelation.
29:57
When God calls himself Father, He is establishing the terms of
30:00
how we approach him These. Metaphors completely dismantle
30:04
human pride. They govern our church polity.
30:06
They demand submission to the text as it is actually written,
30:09
not as our modern culture wishes it was written.
30:11
And. Practically, they require us to
30:13
judge the voices we choose to follow the world constantly
30:16
broadcast the message. Follow the voice that affirms
30:19
your inner desires. Find your own truth, but.
30:21
Christ says something different. Christ.
30:23
Says my sheep hear my voice. The true sheep are tuned to a
30:27
specific frequency. We have to measure every
30:30
preacher, every best selling book, every cultural trend by
30:35
the objective written standard of the word.
30:38
We are coming to the end of our time, so let's recap the ground
30:40
we have covered for you listening today.
30:43
We started with the sheer majesty of divine accommodation.
30:46
We did. We looked at how God lowers
30:48
himself to use the physical vocabulary of creation, the
30:51
dirt, the rocks, the sheep to speak objective truth to our
30:55
finite minds. We established the strict
30:58
hermeneutical guardrail scripture interpret scripture
31:01
avoiding the ditches of literalizing A metaphor like
31:04
transubstantiation or metaphorizing historical events
31:07
like the resurrection. We.
31:08
Examine the courtroom reality of John 10 we saw how the Good
31:11
Shepherd discourse is a judicial strike against the parasitic
31:14
leaders who abuse the flock we. Looked at the sovereign,
31:18
substitutionary and exclusive claims of Christ.
31:21
He is the door. He steps in front of the wolf to
31:23
secure a definite salvation for his elect flock.
31:25
And we saw how these ancient grammatical structures confront
31:29
and govern our modern church practices today, demanding
31:32
monarchistic grace and destroying corporate church
31:35
models. But.
31:35
There is one final, intensely critical piece to the Good
31:39
Shepherd discourse that we must cover.
31:41
The metaphor does not end at the cross, right?
31:44
Because of what happens next, look at.
31:46
The final verses of John 10 Christ says He lays down his
31:50
life so that He may take it up again.
31:52
He explicitly states that no one takes his life from him.
31:55
He has the absolute authority to lay it down and the authority to
31:59
take it up again. He.
32:00
Is prophesying the bodily resurrection, Yes.
32:03
A dead shepherd, if you remain dead in the dirt, could not
32:06
continue to guard the flock. The wolves would simply return
32:09
the next day. The resurrection means the
32:11
shepherd is alive right now. Wow.
32:13
He is actively interceding, preserving and ruling his people
32:16
at this very moment. The tomb is empty, which means
32:19
the fold is secure. I want.
32:21
To leave you with a final thought to Mull over, we have
32:23
spent this time talking about ancient history, Greek syntax
32:26
and massive theological frameworks.
32:28
But bring all of that data into the present tense, yeah.
32:32
Bring it home the. Voice that called the universe
32:34
into existence is the same voice that calls the sheep by name.
32:38
What does it alter about your daily life, your anxieties, your
32:41
decisions? To know that this ancient
32:44
metaphor is an active reigning reality at this very second
32:48
that. Is the question that moves this
32:49
from an academic theology lesson to a posture of actual worship.
32:54
Thank. You for joining this deep dive
32:56
into the sources. Keep thinking, keep reading, and
32:58
we will see you next time.