Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.    2  Corinthians  5:17  

THE  HEIDELBRIEF  Finding  Happiness  in  God  

Dr.  Mark  Larson,  Professor  of  Systematic  Theology  

 –God  the  Christ  is  everything  to  us      

April,  2019  News  from  Heidelberg  Theological  Seminary  

     Paul  wrote  a  fascinating  epistle  in  the  first  century  to  

the  church  in  Colossae,  located  in  what  is  today  the  

country  of  Turkey.  He  expressed  his  thanksgiving  for  

the  faith  that  the  Colossians  had  in  Jesus  Christ  and  

for  the  love  which  they  had  for  one  another.  Faith  and  

love  indeed  are  the  two  indispensable  elements  found  

in  the  heart  of  every  true  Christian.  One  can  fully  

understand  why  Paul  would  begin  his  letter  by  calling  

attention  to  such  important  characteristics.  But  we  

need  to  keep  in  mind  that  faith  and  love  only  stand  at  

the  beginning  point  of  the  Christian  life!  That  is  why  

Paul  immediately  went  on  to  say  that  

he  prayed  for  the  Colossians  that  they  

would  be  “increasing  in  the  knowledge  

of  God”  (Colossians  1:10).  

 

     The  Greek  noun  that  Paul  used—the  word  

epignosis,  translated  “knowledge”—refers  to  a  

knowledge  that  is  true,  correct,  and  precise.  

Clearly,  the  will  of  God  for  all  Christians—for  

all  of  us  who  trust  in  Christ  for  salvation  and  

who  love  our  brothers  and  sisters  in  the  faith—

is  that  we  advance  in  our  understanding  of  who  

God  really  is  and  what  he  is  really  like.    

     Pastor-­‐theologians  who  spend  their  lives  in  

the  study  of  the  Scripture  can  help  us        

(continued  on  the  next  page)        

   

     

 

 

2  

How’s  your  handling  of  the  original  languages?  

 Are  you  desiring  to  use  

fewer  tools  and  dive  back  into  Hebrew  and  Greek?  

 Pastors,  join  us  in  August  for  a  week-­‐long  language  course  that  is  geared  to  help  you  in  your  reading  and  translating  of  the  

original  texts.    

Email  Dr.  Koerner    for  more  details.  

mkoerner@heidelbergseminary.org  

How  Did  Easter  Become  a  Liturgical  Holiday?    Rev.  Jay  Fluck,  Professor  of  Church  History  The  venerable  Bede,  an  English  church  historian  (b.637-­‐d.675)  wrote  about  the  month  of  Eostre,  which  he  said  was  the  Paschal  month,  was  called  after  an  old  English  goddess  of  spring  named  Eostre.  The  Latin  and  Greek  word  for  Easter  is  Pasche  resembling  the  Hebrew  word  for  Passover.  The  New  Testament  connection  is  the  reason.    Epiphanius  of  Salamis  wrote  about  350  that  “the  emperor  ...  convened  a  council  of  318  bishops...  in  the  city  of  Nicea  (Nicea  I  325)...  they  passed  certain  ecclesiastical  canons  at  the  council  besides,  and  at  the  same  time  decreed  in  regard  to  the  Passover  that  there  must  be  unanimous  concord  on  the  celebration  of  God’s  holy  and  supremely  excellent  day.”  For  it  was  variously  observed  by  people.  So  they  standardized  the  relationship  between  Passover  and  the  Resurrection.  But  they  did  not  decree  that  Easter  must  fall  on  Sunday  because  it  was  the  practice  almost  everywhere.  Polycarp  celebrated  it  the  14th  of  Nissan  according  to  the  Jewish  calendar  with  regard  for  the  day  of  the  week,  while  Rome  and  Alexandria  celebrated  it  on  Sunday.  In  the  United  Kingdom,  the  Easter  act  of  1928  legislated  the  first  Sunday  after  the  second  Saturday  in  April  (between  April  9  and  15)  but  it  has  not  been  implemented.      A  1997  summit  in  Aleppo,  Syria  tried  to  fix  the  date  for  all  churches,  but  traditions  have  proved  too  strong  to  change  the  various  dates.  This  year  the  dates  could  be  between  March  21  and  24  or  April  20,  21,  or  28,  depending  on  the  tradition  of  any  given  denomination.  

                                 

to  understand  more  clearly  the  teaching  of  the  Bible  on  the  

nature  of  God.  One  of  the  great  pastor-­‐teachers  of  the  

church  was  Henry  Bullinger,  a  sixteenth  century  servant  of  

God  who  labored  in  the  Swiss  city  of  Zurich.  In  the  Second  

Helvetic  Confession  which  Bullinger  published  in  1566—

one  of  the  great  confessions  of  the  Reformation  period  that  

was  written  by  just  one  individual—we  find  a  biblically  

faithful  testimony  as  to  what  God  is  like.  Bullinger  

declared,  “We  believe  and  teach  that  God  is  one  in  essence  

or  nature,  subsisting  by  himself,  all-­‐sufficient  in  himself,  

invisible,  without  a  body,  infinite,  eternal,  the  Creator  of  all  

things  both  visible  and  invisible,  the  chief  good,  living,  

quickening  and  preserving  all  things,  almighty  and  

supremely  wise,  gentle  or  merciful,  just  and  true”  (Chapter  

III).  

     This  indeed  is  what  God  is  like  according  to  the  biblical  

revelation.  But  there  is  more  to  the  witness  of  Scripture.  It  

is  a  fundamental  truth  of  Paul  expressed  in  the  Book  of  

Colossians  that  God  is  to  be  found  in  the  person  of  Jesus  

Christ:  “In  Him  all  the  fullness  of  Deity  dwells  in  bodily  

form”  (Colossians  2:9).  The  apostle  sets  forth  this  

conception  as  to  the  incarnation  of  the  divine  nature  in  the  

midst  of  an  epistle  dealing  with  an  ancient  heretical  

movement  that  entailed  the  worship  of  angels  along  with  

(continued  on  the  next  page)  

 

 

3  

a  corresponding  depreciation  of  the  preeminence  of  Christ  (Colossians  2:18).  

     The  apostle  therefore  had  to  stress  that  Christ  is  the  creator  of  all  things,  including  the  angels!  It  was  the  

Son  of  God  who  created  everything  that  exists,  “both  in  the  heavens  and  on  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  

whether  thrones  or  dominions  or  rulers  or  authorities”  (Colossians  1:16).    Here  Paul  affirms  that  every  

being  in  the  angelic  hierarchy  of  greater  or  lesser  thrones—and  their  corresponding  dominion,  rulership,  

and  authority—was  actually  created  by  Christ  (the  very  divine  person  whom  the  Colossians  were  losing  

interest  in)!  

     It  is  Christ  the  creator  who  in  reality  is  the  chief  good—what  medieval  theologians  called  the  summum  

bonum,  the  One  in  whom  our  happiness  is  to  be  found.  Paul  can  say  that  “all  things  have  been  created”  

not  only  “through  him,”  but  also  “for  him”  (Colossians  1:16).  It  is  obvious  from  this  that  Paul  would  

contend  that  we  humans  should  not  expect  to  find  our  ultimate  happiness  in  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  

the  acquiring  of  a  famous  name,  or  in  the  attainment  of  political  power.  We  have  been  created,  the  

apostle  declares,  “for  him.”  

     The  nature  of  reality,  Paul  contends,  is  that  only  Christ  himself  can  satisfy  the  longings  of  the  human  

heart.  This  perspective  was  rooted  in  the  Old  Testament  Scripture.  In  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  the  Lord  

informed  Abraham  as  to  where  he  would  find  the  real  purpose  for  living:  “I  am  a  shield  to  you;  your  very  

great  reward”  (Genesis  15:1).  Herman  Witsius,  the  great  Dutch  Reformed  theologian  of  the  seventeenth  

century,  aptly  remarked  that  when  God  “gives  himself  to  man,  he  gives  him  all  things”  (The  Economy  of  

the  Covenants  between  God  and  Man,  I.293).    This  indeed  is  what  the  Lord  was  doing  in  the  promise  that  

God  himself  would  be  Abraham’s  very  great  reward!    What  more  can  a  person  need  when  he  has  God  for  

his  portion?    That  man  or  woman  in  God  has  all  things!  

     In  light  of  the  fact  that  God  the  Christ  is  everything  for  us  (the  One  in  whom  we  find  eternal  life  and  

delight),  let  us  remember  the  exhortation  with  which  the  apostle  John  concluded  his  first  epistle:  “Little  

children,  guard  yourselves  from  idols”  (1  John  5:21).  Surely,  this  is  true  wisdom,  to  keep  ourselves  from  

vain  attachments  and  to  hold  to  him  for  whom  we  were  made.  

HTS  at  Philippines  Update  Dr.  Maynard  Koerner  will  be  teaching  two  intensive  courses  (Biblical  Theology  and  a  combined  course  on  Homiletics/Hermeneutics)  in  Baguio  City  June  17-­‐22.  Students  will  be  coming  from  the  Provinces  of  Bulacan  and  Pangasinan,  from  16  hours  to  the  north  and  from  the  eastern  island  group  of  Leyte.      On  June  24-­‐29,  Dr.  Koerner  will  be  teaching  two  intensive  courses  in  Cagayan  de  Oro  at  a  place  called  Table  Talk  Lounge.  The  courses  taught  here  will  be  Biblical  Theology  and  Reformed  Worship.  Many  of  these  students  will  be  new  to  the  HTS  program.    They  hail  from  the  Davao  City  area  and  north  of  that  city,  as  well  from  Ozamis  City  to  the  west.    

 

 

   

Heidelberg  Theological  Seminary  7301  S.  Louise  Ave.  Sioux  Falls,  SD  57108  

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