How to Study the Bible III - Poetic Forms
Vern Peterman · May 15, 2016
How to Study Bible (2016), No. 19
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926532585104

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Hebrew poetry patterns. And we're going to kind of move on to something similar. I hear poetic forms. And we'll do that by going through a few chapters in 1st and 2nd Corinthians, where a lot of these poetic forms show up. You'll see what I mean by poetic form shortly here. But I give four instances that these poetic forms take.

One is a starting word or words that are identical or at least similar for a sentence or a phrase. In our sense of poetry, we tend to rhyme sounds. And the rhyming has to be at the end, right? Somewhere else doesn't matter. It's rhyming at the end of a particular line that counts in our sense of poetry and song. Here, this isn't aiming for rhyming of sounds, not even rhyming meanings necessarily like the Hebrew poetry patterns do.

But in this case, often starting off with a word or words are identical or at least similar for a sentence or phrase. And the next thing is comparison and or contrast from one line to the next. And the Apostle Paul will break off into that comparison and contrast thing and sometimes carry it on for some number of verses. And then the next one is either a sequential listing or a progressive elaboration. It's another way in which these poetic forms take place. And then the fourth example we have is a similar structure transitioning from generating the action to receiving the action, or vice versa. So we'll see examples of that, so it'll be a little more clear. So what we look at here at the bottom of the first page, I put these all as sort of boxed insets. That's what you'll see.

1 Corinthians 15 is where we'll start. So 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 4, So I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which also you stand, by which And then, if you hold fast the word, which I preached to you, unless you believe in vain.

So the poetic form starts there with which. So he goes on there and uses which as the point. So the first one says, I preached to you. So there's, he originated the message. fall, right? And then, which also you received, so that was their reception of it, which also you stand. Now I'll add to this that that word stand is in the perfect tense.

So what's that mean? Completed past action, ongoing results on into the future, implying permanence. in which you stand, so it's not just in which you are standing. So we don't do the standing? Well, what's interesting is that in which you stand, but it's not in which you are standing, it is instead in which you have been made to stand, or you stood in the past, you're continuing to stand, and you will continue to stand on into the future, implying permanently. So we won't stop standing? Yeah, and so it's not just a, you stand now, but we'll see, you know.

You want your salvation in the future. Pardon? You can get your salvation, you just stand now. Yeah, and it's not always the case, but when the perfect tense is used, and it's used less often, but when it's used, it's a deliberately chosen way of saying things.

And you couldn't necessarily tell that by the English in which also you stand. You might say, well, that's a right now standing. And also, a lot in the debate about, well, can I lose my salvation or not? And some folks get pretty heated about that. This just doesn't even consider it an option. in which you stand. I have been crucified with Christ, that's in the perfect tense too.

And so it has been done, the results continue on into the present, and it implies permanence. Because there's nothing in the context that reverses it. So anyway, in which you stand, by which also you are saved. So how are you saved? He preached it to you, you received it, in which you stand and in which you are saved. And then, which I preached to you unless you believed in vain.

There are some things about the Greek structure in there that is important to look at. I won't go into it at the moment. For I delivered to you, as of first importance, what I also received. So what is he saying there? I delivered to you what I also received, and what is that?

The mystery of Christ. Yeah, you look at it, I delivered to you, he received it, and so what did he receive? That, and then he lays out the content of the gospel to be believed. So he says Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

Okay, which scriptures is he talking about? Which ones? The Old Testament Scriptures? Yeah, it was just the Old Testament Scriptures. The New Testament was just being gathered together. Right? So, by the time he's writing this, the first New Testament books have begun to have been written about a decade earlier. Just begun to be written about a decade earlier. You're talking about the Gospels? Probably with the book of James. Probably the book of James. About 45 AD or so with James. 49 AD with Galatians. So he's not talking about those. He's talking about the Old Testament scriptures. And what did Jesus talk to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus about?

About all the prophecies. So we'll be talking about that some more. When we get into the main service, round numbers are about 10,000 prophecies in the Bible. 5,000 have been fulfilled. And then about 350 of those 5,000 are about Christ's first coming. About 100 of those are about Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

And so that's what he's talking about according to the scriptures. according to the scriptures. One other thing I'll point out, this is basically the gospel, and the gospel here has been put in this poetic form, where I deliver to you, I also received, he received it and he passed it on, right? And then Christ died for our sins, and then the next lines don't have Christ's name, but they have the pronoun, he was buried, he was raised, right? So there's the poetic form there. And then according to the scriptures, twice. Got that?

And that's Old Testament scriptures, and I've given you in round numbers kind of the figures. And we'll repeat those again in the main service. One other thing I wanted to point out to you, in the upper box, I made known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you. And then in the bottom where it says, which I preach to you again, when you have the beginning and the ending of a block of similar statements that are the same, that's called an inclusio. And so Paul uses it here. It's also that the attitudes are in inclusio.

The beginning and ending lines are the same. It's kind of like bookends. Yeah. How do you spell that? Inclusio, I-N-C-L-U-I, excuse me, U-S-I-L. So it's inclusive, only inclusio. Right, Latin. So the idea is you're bookending or bracketing with the same statement. And that happens, you can look for it in various places in scripture. And the idea is to kind of wrap up the package, so to speak. And so it does that.

Another thing that Inclusio does is it's another way of emphasizing. Because remember, did they use italics and bold and underlining like we do? No, they didn't. And so they used other literary techniques, including things like chiasm, Inclusio, the Hebrew poetry patterns. They used other techniques to emphasize techniques that, to us, oftentimes get lost unless we know to look for them. And so you see, he's used inclusio there.

And I'd say another example that comes to mind is the Beatitudes are an inclusio, where they start and end with the same. So this is just a start of an example of the poetic forms that are not exactly the same as the Hebrew poetry patterns. Let's take a look at the top of page two. Here, we're still in 1 Corinthians 15, 12 through 19.

And so Paul uses connecting words here, now, and but, and then for. And this is not a but of sharp contrast, per se, but the idea is he's introducing a series. And then what you see underneath that is a series of ifs. Now, if, but, if, if, if, for, if, if, if. See that? So he's using the now, but, and for as sort of an introducer of some things that he's got a logical, not always if, then, But I put it in brackets.

It's essentially what he's doing. It's doing if-then, if-then, if-then, if-then, if-then, again and again and again. So here's now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, then how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

And just this last week I made a connection. we'll talk about. Yes, Dean? So I presume all those ifs are the same kind of ifs, right? Yes. So what he does, he puts it out there and says if this is the case, then here's the consequence. And you guys ready to sign up for that?

Because the thing is, there are some among you who say that there's no resurrection of the dead. Now, let's have this question. Why would some of them gravitate towards there's no resurrection of the dead? Probably because of the Sadducees teaching? Here's what's interesting. Where was this written? First Corinthians.

There were no Sadducees there. It's because the Sadducees hung around Jerusalem. The Pharisees were the ones who were missionary. and went around spreading their ideas everywhere. So once you get outside of Israel, virtually no Sadducees and no Essenes. The Pharisees are the only group that's out there. So where would this no resurrection idea come from?

The Romans. Here's the interesting part. Yes. But they come from the Greeks, right? Yes. And here's how. When Paul was in Athens, there were two kinds of philosophers that he spoke to. There's Epicurean and Stoic philosophers that he spoke to, and they're mentioned there in Acts 17.

The Epicureans believed that once you died, the soul died with you. The Epicureans were the ones who influenced the Sadducees. And so the Sadducees were influenced by Greek philosophy, specifically by the Epicureans. And so they didn't believe in a resurrection. But then what you find here is these guys were saying there's no resurrection. They were influenced by who? Epicurus. The Epicurean philosophers had gotten to some of these Christians.

And so it's real interesting, during New Testament times and before, wherever Greek philosophy came in, it caused problems. And it impacted negatively the Sadducees. It impacted negatively the church here at Corinth. And there was also negative impact upon the Christians about the time of origin. about 200 A.D. That's where you start getting the beginning of all millennial and post-millennial teaching. That's where you allegorize scripture. Anyway, so I thought that was an interesting thing.

That's where the teaching comes from, there's no resurrection. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised, right? So that didn't happen. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith also in vain.

By the way, this word vain, which we saw on the first page, continues on down the chapter. So, vanity is what he's talking about here. Okay, so, moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise. if this assumption is true. So he goes and carries on, here are the consequences for this, if in fact the dead are not raised.

And then four, if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins, then, and actually this is a case in verse 18 where it's actually in the Greek, So in several cases, I put it in there in brackets, in other words, it's implied.

He's doing if-then logic statements. Yes? OK, so this is not only a poetry pattern, but it's also logic, right? Yep. And so that's the thing you've got to look at, is you'll have poetry patterns, right? And you also have logic. And you also have a figure of speech, because he has an implied then. in several of those places, which I've put in brackets. That's called ellipsis. So he's implied the word then, but it's not present in the Greek. I put it in there for the sake of understanding, if then. But to leave out a word or words that are implied is ellipsis. That's the figure of speech.

So several of the things we've been studying here, you'll end up seeing all at once. And so, if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins, then those who also have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, and if we hoped in Christ for this life only, then we are of all men most to be pitied. So anyway, he goes through and uses this pattern, introduces now, but, for, and introduces this pattern and follows if-then statements all the way through. It's the series of ifs that you look at, everything lines up off the ifs.

He's dealing with those who are saying, well, no, I don't believe in the resurrection anymore. So they had once believed, and now they don't anymore. Did he tell them, you who have stopped believing have lost your salvation? No. He's just saying, here are the logical consequences if what you say is true.

Here is the outcome if what you say is true. And by the way, the if is of that structure. If that is true, and it's assumed to be true, then here are the consequences. Here's the outcome. Okay, so now let's move down to the first fruits in the main harvest and poetic pattern. So in verse 20 and 23, and we'll revisit those verses with another pattern. Okay,

20. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. And then we say, but each in his own order, Christ, the firstfruits, after that those who are Christ at his coming. Alright, so let's take a look at that. I put on the lead there, Christ. is what is emphasized. So the first one is, but now, and then the next one is, but each in his own order, and then Christ.

And then, actually in verse 23, there's Christ, and then I just put that there. There is implied, this would be another ellipsis, there is implied Christ who has been raised from the dead, right? Is implied, so that would be something you could put in the brackets. I didn't do that, but you could do that.

The First Fruits is the next thing after that. Now what's the First Fruits thing? What is that talking about? Well, it's tied to the holiday or whatever that celebration of the First Fruits and Christ being the first of the new kind after in the likeness of flesh. So he's the firstfruits of the future brethren of believers. OK. So let's think about it. What is the term firstfruits referring to? Who used that term? Oh, Moses, when he was. This is from the Law of Moses, right? And so here's how they did it.

They had Passover, right? And then you'd start a week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And sometimes they just use the term Passover for the whole thing. But Passover started, then you had a week of unleavened bread, and so you had the day of the giving of the first fruits was the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So look at this pattern. The giving of the Passover lamb. Who's the Passover lamb? Christ.

If that were on a Friday, then you'd have the feast of firstfruits on Sunday. Christ's resurrection was on the day of firstfruits. So, here's the lineup, so it's the Feast of Passover, followed by Unleavened Bread, the second day of Unleavened Bread was the First Fruits, and so the day on which Christ would have been raised would have been the Day of First Fruits, and so it would line up with that, right? Because Christ was crucified on what day? Friday, because when does Friday start?

Our count is we do it midnight to midnight, but the Jews would have said Thursday night when Jesus had the last supper and it wouldn't have been the end of Passover until Jesus was buried. So the Passover lamb died on a Friday and the first foods would have been Sunday.

Isn't that cool? Yeah, that's real cool. So that's why he's saying firstfruits, that not only is Christ the first one to be raised, but the timing of these things all clocks in perfectly. That he was the firstfruits offering resurrection. Okay, so you have that pattern here, and then those who are asleep, those who are asleep are those who are at Christ, at His coming, right? So that's where the two verses match up there as well. Those who are asleep are those who are at Christ, at His coming.

Yes? So would you use the word asleep for both believers and unbelievers? Now, that's interesting. Does the Apostle Paul use asleep for believers and unbelievers? He uses it explicitly for believers, doesn't he? And that's what this is. Because it's the first fruits of those who are asleep, believers. And it's church-aided believers, specifically.

Those who are unsaved are usually referred to as dead, aren't they? Yeah, they're just dead. And Christ was raised from out of, if you look at the specific language, out of the dead ones. OK, so now let's look at the poetic pattern at the bottom of page two. So here we have, but now, and we're taking the same verse here, but showing a different structure. But now Christ has been raised from the dead ones, or from dead ones. And that raised is in the perfect tense. a completed past action, ongoing results on, and the future implying permanence.

Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. So, he has been raised never to be dead and have to go be resurrected again. That wasn't the same for Lazarus, was it? Okay, so Christ has been raised, perfect tense, from the dead ones, the firstfruits of those who are asleep, for since, by a man, death, Right? By a man also resurrection of dead ones, for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be made alive.

And I put the lines in there, one of them solid and one of them dashed, so that we could see the connection between those two verses, or two parts of the verses. Right? By a man death, in Adam all die, so also By a man also resurrection of dead ones, in Christ all would be made alive. See the connection there? Yes.

Back to the point again. So he's saying Christ has been raised from the dead ones. So since Christ is the fruit, the Old Testament believers are considered dead ones until Christ is raised. Well, let's see, what he's particularly talking about is the resurrection of church-age saints. And let's think about this. Yeah, Crystal?

I think, well, I could be wrong, but First Fruits, it's not just the idea, yes, it is a people group, or a being, an essential being, which are spiritual, but it's the entirety of what comes into place when he is resurrected. It's the entirety of what comes into place when he is resurrected. Everything at that point is now two things being summed up in him. So yeah, he's the first fruit of the being, like the spiritual beings that we are when we believe. And with that, there's there is something entirely new that we are going to have to just wait to see all of it. And the Old Testament things are going to be drawn forward into that as well. Does that make sense? That might be OK. Yeah. Go ahead.

The feast of the first fruits was celebrated before Christ was crucified, though, wasn't it? Oh, this is all the way back to Moses. Yeah, so it came from Moses. So the feast of the first fruit has always been celebrated, but it became very significant. at the time of crucifixion and resurrection.

If you look at it, what are those things doing? They're all pointing ahead. You know, the Passover, they've been celebrating it for centuries, right? So here's the Passover, and now we've got the Passover lamb, right? The one. All those are just pointing to this one, right? And all these feasts of first fruits are pointing to Christ's resurrection, right? Yes. Can I assume that when he says dead ones, he's just basically referring to those who have died? Yeah, but we need to get back to your other question about the resurrection.

So here's Christ's resurrection. Here's the Apostle Paul and all those back in the New Testament era. Here are other believers over the centuries. Ten years ago this year, the Howell went home. So Christians, over the centuries, they're all going to be resurrected when? Those of the church age, they're all going to be resurrected when?

At the rapture. At the rapture. The rapture is our resurrection, and only those who are alive at that time of the rapture will then be raptured alive. But everybody gets raptured. You're not going to miss it. Everybody in the church, as a believer, gets raptured. And some will be surprised. But everybody gets raptured at that moment. But that applies to the church. What about Old Testament saints? What about them? Do they get raptured? Do they get taken out? At the timing of the second coming, Daniel 12, 1 and 2, that's when the Old Testament saints, Jew and Gentile, will be resurrected.

That's going to be something. Yes it will. And the Jews, believing that that's the coming of the Messiah, they're looking, you know, I want to get resurrected right there, so a lot of them want to get buried on the Mount of Olives, because that's where the Messiah is coming back, right? Because they want front row seats to the resurrection. It's obviously, you know, God's not going to be frustrated that somebody's somewhere else. But that's where Old Testament saints and tribulation saints, that's their resurrection. But we will already have been resurrected at least seven years earlier. Yeah? What's the significance of the Feast of the Firstfruits in the Old Testament? Was that when All the Jews would bring in their first harvest of produce?

Yes, and it was typically the barley harvest that got presented at the first. And they presented that to the priests and the Levites? Yep, bring it into the temple. So that was the first offering. Typically the barley harvest was the first thing that came off. Then they had various other offerings, which tells you that there are other groups. that get resurrected later. Carrying forward the picture from the various presentations of offerings.

I don't want to get on a rabbit trail, but I just wanted to answer yes or no. So, the Old Testament saints are going to be resurrected at the rapture. No, the church will be resurrected at the rapture, the believers. The Old Testament saints are going to be resurrected at Christ's second coming. So do both rule and reign with Christ during the Millennial Age?

There will be a different place for each. A different place. A different mansion. Their resurrection will be to earth. Our resurrection is to heaven. So their resurrection is to earth and Jesus talked about being at table reclining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So there will be a gathering there.

But we won't be grouped with them. It doesn't mean we won't have interaction with them. We won't be grouped with them because we will be uniquely the Bride of Christ, the Messiah. They'll just have different functions, different purposes than we will.

Yeah, that's right. And that's the thing. Christians want to lump everything together and make everything the same, and that's just not what Scripture teaches. Let's take a look at the top of page 3. The poetic pattern in 1 Corinthians 15, 42-44. So also is the resurrection of the dead, is the way that starts.

It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

You see the pattern there? So what we've done is to say it is, for each of those to start it off, and then to talk about how it's raised, and we indent that just to show the contrast between the two. So that's what he's done in that section, is just alternate between the perishable and physical and that sort of thing. And he's done it with a contrast, and what you see is it is raised in perishable, it's raised in glory, it's raised in power, it's raised in spiritual body. So he's just alternating in the contrast there.

So we've just accommodated with the indentation to make the it stand out until we break off that last one, if. And we can even put an if there's natural body brackets then. You see that? Is that clear? 1 Corinthians 15, 45-49, so this is just the very next set of verses.

So he's done with the it is pattern, it is sown and it is raised, and it is sown and it is raised, so now he breaks into a different pattern. So also it is written, the first man Adam became a living soul, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. So he's carrying on now, not that it is here, but first the natural and then the spiritual. So the first man is from the earthy, the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy. and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly." See that? Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.

So he's doing this to contrast, isn't he? This is comparison and contrast. In other words, he is saying, here, I don't know which one was written first, whether it was Ephesians or Corinthians, but the new self is the image he's talking about. The heavenly image is the new self, right? Here? Or is he talking about after the rapture? He's talking about our new bodies. After the rapture. Right. OK. Thank you. Yes? Yes.

So 1 Corinthians 15 is? I'm going to say rebuttal to the Corinthians because they have this idea that there is no resurrection. And so it's a detailed, this is the resurrection and here Here's earth, here's spirit, here's earth. Think about the Greek philosophers. Epicurus is the one who said, when you're dead, you're dead. The soul dies with the body, and that's it. And so with his ideas going into the Greek culture here, and then also impacting the Sadducees, there's no resurrection. It just isn't. And so that idea is infiltrated, so no resurrection.

But there's also the idea, a lot in pagan culture, about you stick around here when you're in the afterlife. And that was particularly the case with the Egyptians, for example. And there was Egyptian religion that had come over into the Greek culture, the North Mediterranean. Because remember what the Egyptians would do, they had these big tombs and what would they do in the tombs? They preserved everything and made provisions for them by leaving things they could eat and they could decorate the place and make it a nice place to resurrect into this realm instead of saying, oh wait a minute, you're not going to resurrect in this realm.

So Paul is correcting some pagan ideas that have infiltrated the church here. And the first one is, if there's no resurrection, we're in trouble. And the other thing is, the resurrection isn't just you're coming back here. You've got a natural body, and then you've got a spiritual body, and they're not the same thing. And you're not just coming back here.

Is Paul being ironic when he says he's not adequate in speech or something? It's a question because as you're going through this, Paul clearly has a superior command of language and logic and reason and history and culture. Yes, he does. But then he says, you know, I'm not It may also be that he is a better writer than he is a speaker. Because we see what he writes, and it's some pretty amazing stuff. He shows some sophistication going from one poetry pattern and shifting to another, and then going to just discourse, and then he shifts over to Hebrew poetry pattern, and he asks rhetorical questions, sometimes several in a row. He's really doing quite a job in writing.

It's possible that his speaking was not as eloquent. I don't know. The depth of this man would have been very hard to speak out. I mean, oration obviously is a lot different than language. And I can imagine that trying to listen to this man speak would be overwhelming. Could be. Was it Felix that said he almost convinced him? Was it Felix? that Paul had to go before.

And anyway, it's just one of those. And then when he was speaking, where was it? Where he said, you have this, you have a statue to all gods. Anyway, it's just one of those. I've been looking at this and pondering and thinking, so if Paul is saying, and it's clear that he had some command of speaking before people, I'm curious. And then I'm reading this in the depth his faculty was just, okay, I'm going to use this poetry pattern, now I'm going to use this reason, now I'm going to marry them. So, he kind of closes the Corinthians in because they were so proud of themselves for their ability to speak and reason and be smart people.

So, anyway. So yeah? I was just wondering, most people who understand or have a grasp of language, and especially Paul, can write better than they speak because you're able to think of what you're going to put down. Right. But I think Paul, maybe the reason he said that he's not eloquent in speech is because he did go up to the third heaven, and probably was conversing up there in a perfect language, and that's probably the comparison he's making. You can't speak down here with the language of men as eloquently as he could have up there. That's just what he was saying. Because he was a very educated man. He was smart.

Let's look at the bottom of page 3, the poetic pattern in 1 Corinthians 15, 50-54 A and B. Now, this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Now, you've got several different things going on there. What does flesh and blood mean? Perishable. Talking about an earthly body, right? Flesh and blood speaking about an earthly body. And that, by the way, is a figure of speech, right? earthly body, flesh and blood, not inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable."

So a bigger principle, right? And also some element of restatement, but a larger principle. Behold, I tell you a mystery. So what's a mystery? Something that has previously not been revealed, but is now being revealed. So he's telling him, I'm telling you something that has not been revealed before.

We will not all sleep. What does he mean by sleep? Not all die physically, but we will all be changed. So let's think this through. When he says we will, He writes that such that the rapture could have occurred in his day. He includes himself and others. So he writes it that way. We, in the body of Christ, will not all sleep. And that timing of the rapture keeps moving forward in time.

It means the rapture could have occurred at any time during that time. Yes? I always thought that's because he expected it to happen during his period of time. But basically what he could be saying here is that we're all going to be at the rapture, so he expects it to be happening When it happens, and it could include us, right?

So we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. So you see the we will pattern. So here's the we will not statement, and then we will statement. So I put the space in there so that everything lines up. And then it's all. And who's we? Who's we? All believers. This is all believers, okay? And then we'll not all sleep, we'll not all die, but we will all be changed.

How about those people who are alive when the rapture takes place? Will they be changed? Yes. So the person who has died and the person who is alive at the time of the rapture, they'll both be changed. I remember Nancy and I were there moments after Peggy Harris had died and gone home. And I assured Gary, I said, she'll be at the rapture. So will you. She's going to be raptured. She didn't miss it.

So in a moment, the Greek atomos, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet for the last trumpet bracket, the last trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable. And we will all be changed. Sounds like the end of So line that up. We will all be changed for this perishable must put on the imperishable and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable and this mortal will have put on immortality.

Cut off the poetry pattern there. But you see where things line up there even from a couple of verses before. Now, they don't do that in your Bibles, right? So you have to look for what lines up. And then you can get an idea, oh, here's the pattern that he's using, right? And we see that the we will, right, and then conditions, but the we wills all line up. And we will all be changed. Twice. The second time, the all is there as a bracket. You're shaking your head, Stan.

I'm just so amazed at what this guy writes and how he writes it. It just blows my mind that there can be this much in such a simple passage. Yes, and so the thing is, as we're looking at this, here's the Apostle Paul writing in a poetic pattern, but he's not doing what I'm doing here. He's writing, inspired by the Holy Spirit, putting all this stuff down, and the patterns are all there, but they're all in his head, not on the paper like I'm showing here. Can you imagine being his secretary? And he at times had other people writing for him. So at any rate, let's look at the top of page 4. Am I saying the right thing? Yep. At 4 we switch over to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. So here's the poetic pattern of 2 Corinthians 5, 1 through 5. And what we see there is the first three sets of the pattern start with 4.

For we know that And then, for indeed this house, for indeed while we are in this tent, and now he has prepared us. And so we have an indent there for the next thought, which is our house torn down, longing to be clothed, being burdened because we do not want to be, etc. So there is an indent pattern and you see kind of a sawtooth front end to that. And so we see a different poetry pattern than we've seen in any of the others. So he breaks off into a different poetic pattern here than he's had anywhere else. So let me read through it. For we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

What does it mean to have our house torn down? Well, our dwelling here is in flesh. To die, right? He's using, again, some figure of speech kind of pattern to talk about dying. We have a building from God. So he's talking about the body in terms of being a building or a house.

We have a building from God, a house not made with hands. Now, that's a figure of speech I pointed out before. to do something in the physical realm is for God to do it with hands. God's hands do things in the physical realm. If it is not made with hands or without hands, that's something God does in the spiritual realm. So that's a spiritual body. Because the Bible will talk about God's hands doing things, right?

And whenever it does that, that's something done in the physical realm. When it says without hands or not made with hands, The Hebrew figure of speech is that that's something God does in the spiritual realm. So, this is one of those instances of that figure of speech.

Eternal in the heavens, for indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. And as I get older, increasingly so. And as much as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent we groan. So it was a switch from a house to a tent. Where in this tent we groan, being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. He has prepared us for this very purpose as God who gave us the Spirit as a pledge.

Here is the next poetic pattern, 2 Corinthians 5.6-8. Therefore being always of good courage and knowing that while, and then you see the pattern of we are's. We are.

We are at home in the body. We are absent from the Lord. Now, at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. We are home here and away from the Lord. We are walking by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. See the pattern there? And what you see in common is, of good courage, and of good courage again, and then the we are statements, and then the absent from the body, or absent from the, at home with the Lord, absent, the home of the body, absent from the Lord, and then the reverse of that, absent from the body and home with the Lord. Okay, let's take a look at the next one, 2 Corinthians 5, 11. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God, and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences." So the we are statements there, or we, or we are statements, start some key lines.

2 Corinthians 5.13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are of sound mind, it is for you.

So anyway, as you're studying the Bible, by the way, the Apostle Paul is in the New Testament the one who uses these poetic patterns like this most often. You'll see it sometimes with the other authors, but Paul is the one who uses them the most. And 1 and 2 Corinthians have the greatest density of these poetic patterns.

Let's take a very quick look at page, let's see, because we're running out of time. I'm going to have you take a look at page 6. In the middle of page 6, here is another poetic pattern that is an example of the listing. So, giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry, this is in 2 Corinthians 6, 3-10, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything, commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God. Yeah, so this is his listing. Now, let's ask a question.

Where do the hardships end? Where do what? Where do the hardships, the difficulties end? Well, time-wise, yes. But I'm just saying in here, there's afflictions, and hardships, and distresses, and beatings, and imprisonments, and tumults, and labors, and sleeplessness, and hunger. Which one?

In verse 6 he switches on from these listings of the difficulties to now he says in purity and knowledge and patience and kindness and then what does he do? Then he switches from those starting just before verse 7 in the Holy Spirit and genuine love and the word of truth and the power of God. So you've got three different categories of things, even though the list just looks like it goes in this, in this, in this, and this. And there's a sandwich in the Holy Spirit, and in the power of God, they sandwiched genuine love and the Word of Truth at the very end there.

So then he says, by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by, and here's the three by's, so by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report, regarded, and then he goes into the as's. As deceivers and yet true, as unknown yet well known, as dying yet behold we live, as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing all things." Pretty amazing, isn't it? Pretty amazing stuff.

So anyway, we've run out of time to cover some of the rest of it here. I think that will give you the idea. Looking for these poetic patterns can help you get a sense of how is he trying to communicate with these people. And to understand better, oh I see what this is. And this in-listing is long. You know, in this, in this, in this, in this. But then you look at, hey, wait a minute. I've got difficulties and hardships are the first category. And then I've got kind of character qualities. And then I've got the Holy Spirit, the power of God, the Word of Truth. So that's a different category.

Yes? This reminds me of going to the symphony, where some people can hear only the drums, and other people hear almost all the instruments. in the process of playing together a well-written melody. That's what this is. The detail here is infinite. That's amazing stuff. I think that's part of what I'm trying to get across here.

There's different ways of looking at the same set of passages and gaining more and more insight into what's being communicated. There are some things that are really surprising as we get there. We're going to be looking at actually some more of this kind of thing as we get into the main service here. There's a lot of dimension and we want to make sure we look at all those different dimensions and get everything out.

People will talk about Oh, you have your system of interpretation, and you've got your system of interpretation, and that's your interpretation, and I've got mine, and these other guys say this. What I would say, however, is if we observe thoroughly and carefully and completely, the system melts away. Because what we're wanting to do is to look at what did God intend to communicate? and not, here's my system I'm going to throw into this thing and interpret everything accordingly. So we want to examine and examine and examine and examine, observe, observe, observe, observe, and then minimize, hey we've got this system or that system of interpretation.

What does the author intend? And the patterns here are so clear, some of them are more clear than others, but the patterns here are so clear, then it gives you a definite sense, here's what the Apostle Paul intended to communicate. Oh, he broke into this pattern, and what's the reason? Notice the shift here, and all those things, observe, observe, observe, observe. Other thoughts, questions?

Small one, it just occurred to me a system is a form of intellectual law that somebody can smear on the top of scripture. And that's the problem with system. It's one of the reasons we have as a part of our doctrinal statement dispensational interpretation. And by that, we mean grammatical historical interpretation. We take things literally.

But we really don't have any system in terms of something we impose on it. There have been dispensationalists who have had a system to impose, and I think those are not valid. But rather, observe, observe, observe, observe what the scriptures say, and be very persistent and consistent and careful and deep at the observation. When I got out of seminary, I was not sure that what they were teaching me about the New Covenant was correct. And so I examined it for nine years before I came to a conclusion as to what was correct, and it wasn't what they were teaching me.

All right, let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the depth of it. Thank you, Lord, for the certainty of it. Thank you that you gave your word because you want us to know you, to know you more and better and to grow in the grace and knowledge of you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.