A Systematic Exposition of Some Selected Biblical Themes

By Michael Adegbola

A SYSTEMATIC EXPOSITION OF SOME SELECTED BIBLICAL THEMES

With 65 Study Questions

Perspective of the book: Conservative Evangelical

Usefulness of the book: A Resource for Bible Study and Discipleship-oriented programmes

Features of the book:

¶Justification by Faith in Christ
¶Sanctification in the New Testament
¶The Believers' Spiritual Riches in Christ
¶The Redemptive Blessings of the Saints of God
¶The Inheritance of the Saints in the Light
¶The Lord's Prayer
¶The High Priestly Prayer of Christ
¶Significant Episodes in the Prayer Life of Christ
¶Synopsis of the New Testament Perspective on Prayer
¶The New Testament Apostolic Prayers
¶Fellowship and Communion with God in the Old Testament
¶The Characterization of the Gospel in the New Testament, etc

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716515965

Book preview

A SYSTEMATIC EXPOSITION OF SOME SELECTED BIBLICAL THEMES

Michael Adegbola

A SYSTEMATIC EXPOSITION OF SOME SELECTED BIBLICAL THEMES

© 2020 by Michael Adegbola. All rights reserved.

DEDICATION

To

God who exists as Three in One: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I give special thanks to the Father of our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus who called me into the ministry of expounding the riches of His word, with a view to bringing the saints into full conformity with Christ’s likeness. He also empowered me with His Spirit to fulfill this task. By His power, He is causing His grace to spread and extend through me to His saints in order that all thanksgiving may abound to His glory (2 Cor.4:15). Furthermore, His grace was sufficient for me while writing this expository work.

God has also used my wife who encouraged me to venture into writing all the articles that make up this expository work. She has indeed proved to be a help-meet, to the glory of God.

PREFACE

The book titled, "A Systematic Exposition of Some Selected Biblical Themes" is a collection of articles on the specific biblical subjects, written especially for Christians, Bible students and pastors. There is a systematic approach to the book, in that, for the greater part, the chapters are treated by examining what each book or genre of the New Testament has to say on the subjects concerned, thus giving a unified NT perspective. In the NT, major genres are Gospels, Acts, Epistles and Revelation. The part of the chapter on prayer which features the Old Testament adopts an expository biographical approach.

As the name of the book rightly suggests, it is essentially an exposition which carefully integrates an exegetical analysis (based on sound principles of the Greek NT) as foundational to the writing of the theological themes. The resultant effect is that, no presupposed theological grid (as far as the author of the work can sincerely judge) is imposed on the biblical text-data. It must also be said that the Greek words used are lexically, rather than contextually, transliterated, thus making it suitable for non-technical students.

In a related development, the work is fraught with the citation of Scriptures within context, rather than involving elaborate theological arguments with different schools of thought. For instance, on the subject of justification, the theme is primarily examined in the light of the NT, without delving as such into the historical-theological considerations.

The book is highly recommended for Christian students who desire a thorough and accurate understanding of what the Scriptures teach on the biblical subjects under investigation. It will, in this respect, serve as a good resource for Bible study and discipleship-oriented programmes. Each chapter has some study questions written at the end in order to enable the student to actually learn and imbibe what is taught.

The author writes from a conservative evangelical position, which affirms and asserts the plenary verbal inspiration and infallible authority of Scriptures without compromise.

Michael Adegbola, B.Sc, M.Sc, M.Div, M.Th

President, Word Vision Impact Ministry International, Ibadan, Nigeria.

September, 2020.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover pages                                                                                            2                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Dedication                                                                                              3                                                                                                   

Acknowledgements                                                       4                                                                           

Preface                                                                                                  5                                                                                                     

Table of Contents                                                                                  7                                                                               

Section One                                                                                                                                                               

1. Justification by Faith in Christ                                                          8           

2. Sanctification in the New Testament                                                  16                                   

3. The Believers’ Spiritual Riches in Christ                                            22           

4. The Redemptive Blessings of the Saints of God                                  39

5. The Inheritance of the Saints in the Light                                          49   

Section Two                                                                                                         

1. The Lord’s Prayer                                                                                65                           

2. Significant Episodes in the Prayer Life of Jesus                                  70                                                                                                         

3. The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus Christ                                              75                                                                                         

4. Synopsis of the New Testament Perspective on Prayer                          81

5. The Apostolic Prayers in the Epistles of Paul and in Hebrews              87

6. Fellowship and Communion with God in the Old Testament              100

Section Three

1. The Characterization of the Gospel                                                      115

2. Systematic Consideration of the Apostolic and Prophetic Ministry      135

3. Synopsis of the New Testament Prophecy                                            147

4. Christian Sufferings                                                                            154

5. New Testament Perspective on the Sufferings of the Saints                  162

SECTION ONE

CHAPTER 1

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH IN CHRIST

Gospels and Acts

Note: Justification is not systematically developed as a doctrine in the Gospels, as in, say, Romans, because Jesus had not yet died to atone for the sins of many and be resurrected from the dead. But, since, He inaugurated the kingdom of God in His life and ministry, it therefore follows that the message of justification was implied in His pardoning of people’s sins on the basis of faith in Him as the Saviour of mankind.

We then proceed to our discussion:

In the Gospels, justification, which is defined as the state whereby God acquits sinners and declares them righteous on the basis of Christ’s redemptive work, is brought to the fore with the angelic announcement to Joseph that Mary will bring forth by the Spirit of God a Son to be called Jesus, who will save God’s people from their sins (Matt.1:20-21). At God’s own appointed time, the salvation ministry of Jesus was preceded by the ministry of John the Baptist who was preaching in the desert of Judea a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mk.1:4; Lk.3:3). After His baptism and temptation, Jesus began to preach: "The time has come, he said, "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel." (Mk.1:15, NKJV). Repentance of sins and belief in the gospel, then, are the God-ordained means to experience salvation and justification by the grace of God.

Jesus ate with the tax-collectors and sinners as a significant exemplification of His mission to save and justify sinners in order that He might freely give them the righteousness of God. Justification or right standing in God’s presence cannot be secured by our works of righteousness, but by the operation of God’s mercy as shown in Christ (Matt.9:10-13; Mk.2:15-17; Lk.5:29-32). Also, Jesus asserts that the tax-collectors and prostitutes were entering into God’s kingdom ahead of the hypocritical Pharisees (Matt.21:28-32) because their righteousness which was grounded in faith in Christ Jesus exceeded the legalistic righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees (Matt.5:20). Furthermore, justification or acceptability in God’s presence cannot be earned by one’s perceived morality (Lk.16:15) and works of piety (Lk.18:9-14), but only by faith in the mercy of God as demonstrated by Jesus (Matt.9:13; Lk.18:13-14).

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet in Matthew 22:1-14 is a significant illustration of those whom God chose for justification on the basis of His free grace in Christ (cf.Rom.8:30). Other parables of Jesus that rightly depict God’s relentless search for sinners to be saved, reconciled, and justified in Christ are the parables of the lost sheep (Lk.15:8-10) and of the lost coin (Lk.15:11-32).

Moreover, in the Four Gospels, there are detailed accounts of some vile sinners who had faith in Jesus Christ and as a result had their sins forgiven, justified, and imputed with the righteousness of God. These include the forgiveness o the paralytic’s sins (Matt.9:1-6; Mk. 2:1-11; Lk.5:17-24); the forgiveness and justification of the sinful woman who anointed Jesus in a Pharisee’s home (Lk. 8:36-50); the conversion of Zacchaeus (Lk.19:1-10), the regenerating experience of Nicodemus (Jn. 3:1-21), the forgiveness of the sinful Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus at Jacob’s well in Sychar and the resultant conversion of many other Samaritans to Christ (Jn.4:1-30, 39-42), the justification of the man who was an invalid for 38 years (Jn. 15:1-15), and the justifying experience of the adulterous woman who was caught in the very act by the Pharisees (Jn. 8: 1-11).

The ground of justification in the Gospels is Jesus Christ, even though, He had not yet died and resurrected. Those who repented of their sins and confessed Jesus as their Saviour, Lord and the Son of God were prior to His death and resurrection saved and justified in the provisional sense, though not in the full new covenant sense. The means of experiencing justification are repentance from sins and faith in the Son of God. For justification to be fully actualized in the New Covenant sense, Jesus had to die for our sins, resurrected on the third day, and be exalted to the right hand of God.

In Acts, specifically Chapter 2 verses 22-36, Peter in the first apostolic preaching in Acts maintained that according to God’s determined purpose and foreknowledge, God delivered up Jesus of Nazareth to the death of the cross, raised Him up on the third day, and exalted Him to His right hand, in order that Jesus might, by eternal designation, be both Lord and Christ. Thus, the ground for justification consists in the death, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of God, and the means of justification are repentance from sins and faith in Christ (Acts 2:38; 3:19-21; 5:31; 11:18; 20:21). 

Epistles

In his Epistles, Paul uses the word ‘justify’ (dikaioō) in