Hebrews 13 Study Questions

Did Jesus Really Ascend into Heaven ?

Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, Christians also posit that after 40 days Jesus rose through the clouds and ascended into heaven. But is this true and accurate? Is this an account that can be defended and stand up to scrutiny? This article looks at some of the evidence concerning this most important event as described in the Bible, so that readers can verify for themselves and ask and answer very important questions regarding this facet of the Christian faith. Act 1: 9 – 12 reports that for forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus continued to teach his followers. Jesus and the remaining 11 Apostles were gathered near Mount Olivet, to the northeast of Bethany. Jesus gave his apostles the Great Commission of spreading his message all over the world, and that they shall receive the Holy Spirit. Shortly after this pep talk Jesus is taken up and received by a cloud. Then two men clothed in white (we will assume they are angels) appear and tell the apostles that Jesus will return in the same manner as he was taken up to heaven. This is the most detailed account of the Ascension in the Bible. Luke 24:50-51 gives a shorter description of the events. Jesus led the eleven apostles to Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. Then as he was blessing them, Jesus was carried up to heaven. It is pertinent to note that in the first Bibles published Luke was the first part of Luke-Acts, It was later that scribes divided it into two books, Luke, and Acts. scholars speculate that this Ascension description, less detailed than that in Acts 1:9-12, is from a different author, perhaps created by a scribe when Luke-Acts was divided into Luke and Acts. Other passages imply an ascension even though it is not explicitly mentioned, for example John 6:42, Jesus tells Mary Magdalene "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' Matthew 28: 18-20 describes Jesus at a mountain in Galilee with Jesus commanding the Disciples to spread the Gospel to the ends of the world, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (the "Great Commission"). But there is no specific mention of Jesus Ascending up to heaven in this quotation. So let us examine some key points here. First of all Jesus rise upwards towards the sky, and this is described as him ascending to heaven. Why is that? Is the sky heaven?

The Law-Gospel Principle in Luther's Chistology of the Old ...

Intimately connected with Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith was his practice of finding both Law and Gospel in all of Scripture. The Wittenberg Reformer contended that the reader of the Bible needed carefully to distinguish between Law and Gospel in both Testaments. This became for him a cardinal principle of interpretation. These two divine teachings must scrupulously be kept apart. Both the Roman Catholics and the Reformed were guilty of commingling them. Ernst Wright claimed that the Reformed do not follow this principle when they interpret the Bible, a principle which the nominal Lutheran Rudolf Bultmann advocated.

In his introduction to the Old Testament (1523) Luther compared the Old Testament form the viewpoint of Law and Gospel as follows:

Know then, that the Old Testament is a book of laws, which teaches what we are to do and not to do and, in addition, gives examples and stories of how these laws are kept or broken, just as the New Testament is a Gospel or a book of grace and teaches whence one is to get the strength to fulfill the Law. But in the New Testament, along with the teaching about grace, many other teaching, laws, and directions for the ruling of the flesh are given, since in this life the spirit is not perfected and grace cannot rule alone. Just so, besides the laws, there are in the Old Testament some promises and offers of grace, by which the holy fathers and prophets under the Law were kept believing in Christ. Nonetheless, a the specific and chief doctrine of the New Testament is the proclamation of grace and peace in Christ, through the forgiveness of sins, so the specific and chief doctrine of the Old Testament is the teaching of laws, the showing of sin, and the promotion of good. Know, then, that this is what you have to expect in the Old Testament.

Luther did recognize that the Old Testament lacked many of the details found in the New Testament. It was his conviction that the Old Testament contained the articles of faith only in a general way and in this manner pointed to Christ. Aside from this the Old Testament was not different from the New Testament. The great plan of salvation was less clear during the age of promise than in the time of the New Testament fulfillment. In the introduction of a Christmas sermon on John 1:10-14 Luther remarked:  “(in the Old Testament times) the precious metal still lies half-buried in the pit.”

Luther did not place the two Testaments on equal footing as to the clarity with which they taught the doctrine of Christ. They are not in all respects the same.