Search The Scriptures —Study 35 — Matthew 23:1-22

Study 35 From the Book of Matthew is: Matthew 23:1-22

1.     Verses 1-12 are an indictment of the Pharisees because of their concern for personal prestige and outward show. Do you see how this may happen within the Christian church? In what ways may this temptation come?

2.     Note the repetition of the word ‘Hypocrite’ or ‘play-actor’. How is this seen in the attitude of the Pharisees to others (verses 13-15), and in their vows and promises (verses 16-22)? What do we need to do to avoid becoming like them?

Notes

1.     Verse 5. The phylactery was a small box of leather containing portions of the law and strapped to forehead and to left arm.  The fringes of the garments were four in number, attached to the dress as a symbol of the law. 

2.     Verse 15. ‘A child of hell’: Greek Gehenma, meaning ‘worthy of suffering punishment in the after-life’.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 34 — Matthew 22:15-46

Study 34 From the Book of Matthew is: Matthew 22:15-46

1.     Comparing the teaching of Jesus in verses 15-22 with Paul’s teaching in Rom. 13:1-7, outline the duty of the Christian to the state.

2.     Verses 23-33. On what does Christ base His teaching about the fact of resurrection? What features of the life of the world to come emerge from this teaching?

3.     Verses 41-46. Christ’s counter-question here makes some clear claims. What are these? Ps. 110:1 is cited in verse 44. Consider the use made of this elsewhere in the New Testament. Cf. Acts 2:33-36; Heb. 1:13; 10:11-13. Of what truths and hopes are we thereby assured?

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Search The Scriptures —Study 33 — Matthew 22:1-14

Study 33 From the Book of Matthew is: Matthew 22:1-14

1.     In this parable what are we taught about the pattern of Christ, ministry, and what challenge do you find to evangelistic outreach?

2.     In verses 11-13 what do you understand to be the significance of the wedding garment?  Cf. Zc. 3:1-5. Consider the balance in these verses of the free invitation of the gospel and the demand for holiness, ‘without which no one will see the Lord’. (Heb. 12:14).

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Search The Scriptures —Study 32 — Matthew 21:23-46

Study 32  From the Book of Matthew is: Matthew 21:23-46

1.     Verses 23-27. People often ask for more understanding or for more proof before they respond to Christ. How did Christ Himself answer such a demand? What are the conditions of receiving more light? Cf. Jn. 7:17. In what way does the brief parable of verses 28:32 underline the same teaching?

2.     Verses 33:44. What is taught by this parable concerning the character of God, the person of Christ, the responsibility of men, and the reality of judgment?  Do you find anything significant in the reaction of the Pharisees in verses 45, 46?

Note. Verse 44 (see mg.) is omitted in many manuscripts. But it teaches that there will be brokenness either in repentance or in final judgment.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 31 — Matthew 20:29 – 21:22

Study 31 From the Book of Matthew is: Matthew 20:29 – 21:22

   1.     What claims concerning the Person and work of Jesus are here (a) publicly made by Jesus Himself and (b) openly acknowledged by others? What particularly provoked either rebuke and indignation, or prayer and acclamation? Can you keep silent?

   2.     What was Christ condemning in His cleansing of the Temple (21:12, 13), and in His cursing of the fig tree (21:18, 19)? If He similarly came into our church or examined our lives, what would He see and say?

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Search The Scriptures —Study 30 — Matthew 19:23-20:28

Study 30  From the Book of Matthew is: Matthew 19:23-20:28

1.     Consider the teaching of Jesus on riches and possessions. With verses 23-26, cf. Lk. 6:24; 8:14; 12:13-21. Compare Paul’s teaching in 1 Tim. 6:7, 10, 17. But note that Christ gladly received help from the rich (cf. Lk. 8:2, 3).

2.     Is there a place for the concept of reward in Christian service? What do verses 27-30 teach about this?

3.     Verses 1-16. What is the main teaching of the parable of the labourers in the vineyard? What does it have to say about the legalistic spirit in Christian service?

4.     Verses 17-19 are the third prediction by Christ of His own passion. Cf. 16:21; 17:22, 23. What new details are added here? What do verses 22 and 25-28 reveal of the mind of Christ with regard to what was ahead?

5.     In what ways do verses 20-28 prove the disciples to be out of sympathy with Christ at this moment? What do both Christ’s teaching and His example demand of us?

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Search The Scriptures —Study 29 — Matthew 19: 1-22

Study 29 From the Book of Matthew is: Matthew 19: 1-22

1.     In Christ’s answers to the Pharisees and the disciples on the subject of marriage (19:1-12), what does He teach about the place and character of marriage, and what does He say about the celibate life?

2.     Verses 16-22.  What do you find commendable in the young man in this incident? What were the factors which nevertheless made him turn away from Christ?

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Search The Scriptures —Study 16 — Jeremiah 24 and 25

Study 16  From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 24 and 25

With this study we will make a short pause for now with the intense study of the book of Jeremiah to delve once again into the book of Matthew, starting with study 29.

Chapter 24 dates from the reign of Zedekiah.  Chapter 25 declares to Judah and the surrounding nations that they shall all be brought under the power of Babylon with great slaughter.

1.     Who are the good figs and who the bad, and what will happen to them respectively? Cf. Ezk. 11:14-20.

2.     25:1-11. The fulfilment of the vision of the boiling pot (1:13-15). Much of what is said in these verses is found in proceeding chapters.  See, e.g., 7:6, 7; 16:9; 18:11, 16. What however, do you find here that is new?

3.     ‘The supreme factor in history for the Hebrew is the activity of the eternal God’. Illustrate this statement from today’s portion. Note especially 25:29. Cf. Am. 3:2; 1 Pet. 4:17, 18. What is the correlative of special privilege?

Notes

1.     25:12-14.  These verses break the sequence of thought, and were possibly introduced at a later date; so also the words ‘as at this days’ in verse 18 (they are not in the LXX) and the last clause of verse 26.

2.     25:23. Dedan, Tema and Buz were tribes of northern Arabia. Unlike the Jews (Lv.19:27), they shaved the hair from the sides of their forehead.  Cf. 9:26.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 15 — Jeremiah 23

Study 15 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 23

1.     Verses 1:8. To meet the situation created by the failure of Judah’s rulers, what does God say He will do?  Cf. Ezk. 34:1-16. How much of what is promised here has been fulfilled?  Cf. Jn. 10:1-18; Lk. 1:32, 68, 70; 1 Cor. 1:30.

2.     What does Jeremiah say concerning (a) the religious life, worship and ministry of the prophets of his day; (b) their moral character and conduct; and (c) their influence? What qualifications are essential in those who are called to speak in the name of the Lord?

Notes

1.     Verse 1: ‘Shepherds’ see 2:8 and mg.

2.     Verse 5. ‘Branch’: better, ‘shoot’ or ‘sprout’, i.e., a growth of new life.  Cf. 33:15; Is. 11:1.

3.     Verses 7:8. ‘The new and more wonderful Exodus’ (R.C. North).

4.     Verse 9 describes the effect of God’s words upon Jeremiah himself.

5.     Verses 33-40. The Hebrew word translated ‘burden’ could also mean, figuratively, a solemn utterance, and oracle, normally of ominous import. Cf. Is. 13:1; 15: 1; 17:1). The people had evidently been speaking mockingly of the prophet’s utterances ‘burdens’. Jeremiah uses it to rebuke its users. (verses 33, 39), and forbids its employment in such an irreverent context.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 14 — Jeremiah 21 and 22

Study 14  From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 21 and 22

These chapters refer in turn to the last five kings of Judah: Josaih (22:15, 16). Jehoahaz or Shallum (22:10-12).  Jehoiakim (22:13-19), Jehoiachin or Coniah (22:24-30) and Zedekiah (21).

1.     Zedekiah’s hope was that God would work a miracle, as He had done in the days of Hezekiah, a little over a century before (21:2; 2 Ch. 32:20-22). What was Jeremiah’s answer, and what light does this throw on ‘unanswered prayer’?  Cf. 7:16; 11:14; 11:12; Is. 59:1, 2.

2.     Chapter 22. Why did Jeremiah condemn injustice and outrage? Consider the contemporary application of this world from the Lord.  Are we guilty of conforming to any current social iniquities or sharp practices?

3.     22:21. (The northern kingdom behaved in the same way – see 3:25.) Reflect upon this verse as depicting the pattern of Judah’s history.

Notes

1.     22:6. Gilead and Lebanon typify prosperity.

2.     22:20. ‘Abarim’: a mountain range to the south-east of Palestine

3.     22:22. ‘Sheperds’: see 2:8 ang mg.

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