FOURTH QUARTER 2020
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #6
NOVEMBER 7, 2020
“MORE LESSONS FROM THE MASTER TEACHER”

The lesson this week draws from many disparate texts and passages and so I chose to focus on Monday’s lesson which uses Genesis 3:1-11 and Romans 5:11-19. Before we look at these texts, the concept of Jesus as Master Teacher should be explored. We began the quarter with the title Education in the Garden of Eden. In my vivid imagination, God, in the garden of Eden, was conducting a masterclass and Adam and Eve were His master students. Wikipedia gives this definition of a masterclass: “A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, any of the arts, or on any other occasion where skills are being developed.” I have friends that went to Juilliard School of Music for violin and they were always moved by the fact that they were in Master Class with the best Violinists in the world as their teachers. Adam and Eve were in a Master Class with the greatest of all Master Teachers, the Creator Himself. Think of that for a long while. They were taught by the Creator Himself.

This brings us to Monday’s lesson. We will start with Romans 5:12 “12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—” You have heard the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt.” Often when we read this text, we read it devoid of any feeling, except, perhaps jubilation. But I want us to connect this verse (and the rest of Romans 5, which we will read momentarily) with what led to this passage in Romans 5 in the first place, Genesis 3.

In Genesis 3, the Master Teacher has lost control of the classroom. Rebellion erupts in the classroom because one of the students rebelled and chose to believe, what appeared to her to be, a better master teacher. We have this account in Genesis 3: 8-13 following their sin, “8And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” 12Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” Here is the first lesson from the Master teacher. Ask probing questions. We usually focus on only one question, “Where are you?” But Jesus asks four probing questions which on the surface may seem to have rather obvious and simple answers. The four questions are “Where are you?”, “Who told you that you were naked?, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”, and “What is this you have done?”

Before we look at the questions, I want us, as the master students now, to go to Genesis 3:24, “So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” Think of it, God has to walk that long way back to the garden all by Himself because the man He created just a short while before, who He formed with His own hands, rejected Him and rebelled. No. This was no surprise to Him. At the dawn of creation, He made a plan to take care of rebellion should it arise. Revelation 13:8 tells us that He was the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the world. This is the second of the attributes of a great Master Teacher. He leads by self-sacrifice, self-forgetfulness, and demonstration. So, what is going through the Master teacher’s mind? I can only surmise the answer based on the questions He asked them. Here is my take. “Do you realize the gravity of what you have done?” Do you realize the implications of your actions on yourselves, the rest of humanity, the onlooking universe and Heaven itself including, US, in whose image you were made?” These are all inherent in all of the questions, most obviously in the first and last questions. I am drawn to another account of creation in which Jesus tells His own testimony. It is found in Proverbs 8. We will only look at verses 30 and 31: “30Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, 31Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And My delight was with the sons of men. I want to suggest that God, as He was walking back to the garden alone, His thoughts went back to the counsel of peace that was “between Them Both” and He remembered that though He and the Son enjoyed and delighted in each other’s company, Their delight was also with the sons of men.” Enter Romans 5.

Romans 5 is actually intimately related to Romans 3 as chapter four is parenthetical. The lesson references only verses 11-19. But we need to begin in verse 1 and I will be using the Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and the KJV. “Having been declared righteous, then, by faith, we have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This text is crucial to appreciation of Romans 5 because the immediate context is Romans 3 where the faith of Jesus is introduced as the way forward. Romans 3:22-24 says “22and the righteousness of God [is] through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing, -- for there is no difference, 23for all did sin, and are come short of the glory of God -- 24being declared righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that [is] in Christ Jesus,” (YLT). Our being declared righteous as it says here in YLT is predicated on the “faith of Jesus”, the faith of the Master Teacher. The faith of Jesus is why Romans 5:12-19 is such an awe-inspiring passage. It says, “12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” KJV. The YLT says “declared righteous instead of justification. This passage is truly amazing news. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.

So, let us look at what it took for the Master Teacher to bring us this ability to be declared righteous, fit to sit in the master class. We have a hint in Romans 5:6-8: “6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ died for us, the ungodly, while we were yet sinners and demonstrated His love to us while we were yet sinners.

What was on the Master Teacher’s mind as He walked back to the garden of Eden alone? The cross certainly loomed large. It was now reality. How will He survive it? How will He make it? He had to bring about the reconciliation Paul talks about. But talk is easy. The faith of Jesus. What exactly is that? Many ideas are tossed around. I will use two sources, Ellen White and the book The Faith of Jesus Christ: The Narrative Substructure of Galatians 3:1-4, 11 by RB Hays, In his book, he makes the case that Paul’s writings in both Galatians 3:1-4, 11 and in much of Romans is not so much a theological discourse of how we are saved. Rather it is the story of Jesus the Messiah and at the heart of that story is the faith of Jesus which Hays maintains is metonymy (shorthand word picture) for the cross event which begins in the garden of Gethsemane. God gave Him a mandate before time began and it was His faith that enabled Him to be successful in fulfilling His mandate. Hays says this, “The faithfulness of Jesus Christ refers first of all to His gracious, self-sacrificial death on the cross. The cross is the dramatic climax of the Jesus-story, and Paul uses the expression “faith of Jesus Christ” to suggest that focal moment of the narrative.”

Ellen White makes similar statements: “The faith of Jesus. It is talked of, but not understood. What constitutes the faith of Jesus, that belongs to the third angel's message? Jesus becoming our sin-bearer that He might become our sin-pardoning Saviour. He was treated as we deserve to be treated. He came to our world and took our sins that we might take His righteousness. And faith in the ability of Christ to save us amply and fully and entirely is the faith of Jesus.” {3SM 172.3}

She further puts this in the context of the cross. “Amid the awful darkness, apparently forsaken of God, Christ had drained the last dregs in the cup of human woe. In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father's acceptance heretofore given Him. He was acquainted with the character of His Father; He understood His justice, His mercy, and His great love. By faith He rested in Him Whom it had ever been His joy to obey. And as in submission He committed Himself to God, the sense of the loss of His Father's favor was withdrawn. By faith, Christ was victor.” {DA 756.3}

Master class, our Master Teacher has redeemed us with the precious blood of Jesus as Peter said. The class topic is “A New Thing. My Image Recreated In You.” I pray we will all sit in that master class and respond to our faithful Master Teacher. It is His faith that made it possible for us to be in that class.

Blessings,

Andi Hunsaker