Righteousness, Lesson 3
ASSIGNMENT: Read this lesson and Matthew 5:13-20 | NIV.
Have you ever purchased a product that was patterned after a successful, more costly brand, only to be disappointed by its quality, durability or performance? When I was in Bahrain it seemed there was a vendor on practically every street corner near where I was staying hawking watches bearing the name Omega, Rolex, Seiko and other expensive brands for a fraction of what they cost at home. I bought one that kept accurate time just long enough for the salesman to disappear around the corner before it stopped; never to run again. Such products are sometimes called “knock-offs” or clones. My dad would have called them “cheap imitations.”
Today we continue our study of Christianity as taught by Jesus in which we begin to differentiate between the real disciple and a cheap imitation. In the Beatitudes we discovered a few of the characteristics of Jesus’s real disciples. This lesson begins to explore how we, as his disciples, should represent Jesus among those who do not yet know him. And we shall soon discover that what Jesus expects of us is impossible without supernatural power. We’ll wrap up by looking at Jesus’s view of his role in God’s plan for the reclamation and reconciliation of humankind as the fulfiller of the Law.
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (NIV)
The Kingdom Triangle. “The subject of this discourse, and the aim of the discipleship which it promotes, is not so much the betterment of life on earth as the implementation of the reign of God.1. Righteousness is inextricably linked to kingdom theology in the Sermon on the Mount. That will become clear in the next chapter with Christ’s proclamation, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6: 33 | NIV) The apostle Paul highlighted the work of the Holy Spirit in the reign of kingdom of God. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,. . .” (Romans 14:17 | NIV) It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to live a righteous life in God’s kingdom.
Jesus’s death and resurrection removed sin’s penalty making it possible for us to have the righteousness of God.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17 | NIV)
Paul clarified the concept of righteousness further in his letter to the Corinthian church. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 | NIV).
As with every good thing in the kingdom, the enemy has a counterfeit. In this sermon Jesus compared genuine righteousness with the false righteousness of the religious elite, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. Kingdom life is based on relationship, not religion. Theirs was a righteousness based on works—trying to live a holy life by focusing on rules rather than worship.
We cannot earn our way to God. He loves us for who we are, not what we do. Coming to him requires only that we repent (turn around and go another way), trust Jesus for our eternal salvation and begin living God-honoring lives by following the leading of the Holy Spirit, rather than our own sinful inclinations. We needn’t worry about how we’ll change. Simply trust the Holy Spirit to lead you to be and do what God has always had in mind for you. That allows you to become the man or women God created you to be.
Righteousness cannot be earned. No human but Jesus has ever been entirely righteous. Our righteousness is the result of justification. Justification is directly attributable to God’s grace in response to our faith in the substitutional atonement of Jesus on the cross. Jesus died to pay the price for the sin of the world. That includes yours and mine. When we place our faith in Jesus as both lord and savior, belief in him as savior locks in heaven. The lord part results from our commitment to do what he says while we await his return.
Justification is roughly equated with salvation. Justification means God sees Jesus when he looks at us. We continue in God’s grace as we strive to live lives that glorify him under the power of the Holy Spirit. That life-long process is called sanctification. Sanctification means God sees Jesus in us by the way we live, think and act. Salvation and justification is not either/or it is both/and, period. Salvation without sanctification is a cheap imitation or what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace.” Justification, sanctification and discipleship are the three sides of the kingdom triangle.
Salt of the Earth. Jesus described the righteousness of the believer as light and salt. “You are the salt of the earth.” (v.13) Imagine what is happening here. Jesus is addressing a ragtag assembly of fishermen, tax collectors and others from the fringes of polite society and charging them with changing the world. “The Lord was saying that his disciples would perform a vast universal task that would affect all mankind.”2. He may also have been alluding to an Old Testament theme. “Salt was added to sacrifices both to symbolize the lasting nature of God’s covenant with His people (Lev 2:13) and to purify the offering.”3.
Salt has three characteristics that should help us understand what Jesus meant. It heals, enhances flavor, and preserves. In Jesus’s day the abrasive quality of salt along with its infection-fighting properties made it useful for first aid. In appropriate measure it improves or enhances the taste of food. Finally, it has historically been used to keep meat and fish from rotting.
Salt is a mixture of sodium and chlorine gas. Similarly, Christ-followers are a mixture of being and doing. “Jesus’ disciples strive to purify the world by living holy lives and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.”4. Christ intended for his followers to flavor our relationships and communities with love, peace and compassion, while standing, by example, apart from and against sin’s destructive influences. “Salt is essentially different from the medium in which it is placed and in a sense it exercises all its qualities by being different.”5.
Disciples help preserve the things which are good, while holding the rotten influences in check by following the way of Jesus. If we live and act like those around us, we are no longer salt. Our witness to the world is intended to cleanse and heal. That cannot happen if we are not clean and spiritually healthy ourselves.
And we must be careful not to use our “faith salt” to force our beliefs on others. When we share the Good News of the gospel through the silent testimony of our God-honoring lives, rather than harsh judgement, others see Jesus in us. And when we point to him, they will find he is able to remove their burden of sin’s guilt and fill their lives with meaning and purpose.
A person walking their Christian talk often even improves the behavior of the unbelieving people around them, but only when their life reflects the character of Jesus. “The salty Christian is not self-righteous or condemning, but his or her life makes ungodly conversation seem shabby and inappropriate.”6. All but the most coarse people are unwilling to relate inappropriate stories and share off-color jokes with someone they know is serious about their relationship with Jesus.
Strictly speaking, salt cannot lose its saltiness; sodium chloride is a stable compound. But most salt in the ancient world was derived from salt marshes or the like rather than by evaporation of salt water, and therefore contained many impurities. The actual salt, being more soluble than the impurities, could be leached out, leaving a residue so dilute it was of little worth.7.
When it no longer served its intended purpose, what was left often got thrown onto the walking path to inhibit plant growth. “The point is that salt that is too corrupt to have a purifying influence can have a destructive influence. Salt that has lost its purity has a herbicidal effect. Rather than purifying the lives of others, it destroys the potential for life.”8.
We see that happening as a result of politics in church pews and pulpits when we lose our focus. Anything that causes us to take our eyes off Jesus becomes an idol. There is no other way to say it. Many professed Jesus-followers have become idolators. They have allowed a political agenda to impact negatively on their love of God and others. They have turned away from family and friends over politics. And, large numbers have left churches that were biblical sound and preaching a resurrected Jesus to attend one where they feel more at home politically. Jesus, not politics, is the heart of discipleship and disciple-making.
Like the ancient salt, lukewarm Christians who do not display the characteristics that Jesus taught are no longer of use to his earthly kingdom. Jesus is warning that hypocrisy can do lasting damage to our Christian witness, thereby making us useless in our primary mission of disciple-making. Unlike the salt, however, we can be returned to our original saltiness through repentance. We serve a God who redeems and restores. “Nothing but our own sin can keep us from being resalted.”9.
We can lose our saltiness but we can also be too salty. We need salt to live, but it can also kill us. Salt is so important to the human body that if you drink too much water the salt can be flushed out of your system and you will die. On the other hand, for those who have been diagnosed with hypertension or heart disease, too much salt can kill.
Even if not taken to that extreme, we know that rather than adding flavor, too much salt will spoil the taste of food; in some cases even rendering it inedible. Grandma used to say this about people who were too salty, “They are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good. ”We help people meet Jesus because we love them and know he will have compassion for them and we must do it with humility, not condemnation.
The salt metaphor should remind us that, although we have an important role to play in spreading a gospel message of hope and reconciliation, we must exercise that privilege with loving care and wisdom. The saltiness that undergirds evangelism is a blend of love for God and love for others. The challenge is to remain salty, without becoming destructive. A little bit of salt goes a long way when used properly.
Light of the World. Jesus went on to call his disciples the light of the world.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (NIV)
“Throughout the prophecies of Isaiah, the shining light is a metaphor of the Messiah and His people fulfilling the missionary purpose of manifesting the glory of God among the nations.”10. Jesus encouraged his disciples, those he would empower to evangelize the world, with the promise of the light of life. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12 | ESV). We have been charged with reflecting his light to a lost world.
Hughes11. provided the back story to that claim. Jesus called himself the light of the world the morning after a spectacular nighttime ceremony known as the Illumination of the Temple, while standing near the temple. Four candelabra, as tall as the temple wall, each holding 65 liters of oil, had been lit by priests and the light illuminated not only the temple, but all of Jerusalem. The light represented the pillar of fire that guided Moses and the people of God through the wilderness. Jesus was leaving no doubt that he was the very representation of the God of Israel.
Light has these three characteristics that exemplify the Christian walk. It illuminates, welcomes and warns. People are in spiritual darkness and most never realize it. The apostle John described it like this. “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19 | NIV).
The lives of Christians serve as yellow caution or warning lights—visual reminders that one day those who have rejected Jesus will come under God’s judgment. “Light is effective because of its contrast with surrounding darkness. We illuminate the darkness when we live God-honoring lives. It is this visible distinctiveness which arouses the hostility of others and leads to the slander and persecution which the “ninth beatitude” celebrates.”12. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matthew 5:11 | NIV). Nobody like to admit they are wrong.
Light is a biblical symbol of purity in opposition to pollution, good compared against evil, truth contrasted with lies, life rather than death and God’s presence rather than his absence. “Christ made possible a clearer distinction between good and evil. He eliminated the option of thinking ourselves good by comparison with others. He was and is the standard!”13. He did not want the light to go out when he returned to his Father because the world would be very dark without his influence on it. That is why he sent his Holy Spirit to guide us, illuminate us and yes, warn us.
“You are the light of the world.” If we are living the life of a true disciple, the light of Jesus we reflect is unmistakable, like the city on a hill. “It is one of those statements which should always have the effect upon us of making us lift up our heads, causing us to realize once more what a remarkable and glorious thing it is to be a Christian.”14. The way we go about living our daily lives should be as inviting as the lights of a city are to a weary traveler late at night and as warm and intimate as candlelight can be in a home.
That means our faith must not only be lived out in private. We need to take it with us when we go out into the world.
In public, Christ’s light should set us apart from those around us because “the outcome of distinctive discipleship is intended to be that other people will notice.”15. The light of which Jesus spoke has a single pure source. Lighted from within we reflect the light and character found in him. We are the moon reflecting the light of Jesus, our sun. His light sends evil scurrying like cockroaches. It is his light that keeps sin’s darkness in check. “But thank God we do not stop at that. Light not only exposes the darkness; it shows and provides the only way out of the darkness.”16.
Everywhere we look there is ignorance, hopelessness, dread and deceit spread by Satan, the enemy of our souls. But the light of Christ draws those who want better than what the world offers out of the darkness and toward those through whom his light shines. Notice he said “you are” not “you should be” or “you will be” or “you can be.” It starts as soon as we accept Jesus as lord and savior.
It almost goes without saying, the purest light is unfiltered light. Anything in our life that is not like Jesus serves as a filter of his light. The more filters we place between Christ’s light and those around us, the less impact the light has on them. We must not allow our filters to become an excuse not to shine for Jesus. Even a dim light is better than no light at all, but what Jesus taught his disciples, including us, is intended to cause us to eliminate those things in our lives that detract from his glory being reflected. We are expected to do our part but never forget that it is for the glory of God.
Fulfilling the Law. Did you ever wonder why, if Christianity is all about Jesus and his name doesn’t appear in the Old Testament, why our Christian Scriptures even contains both the Old and New Testaments? “Everything in the Old Testament, according to Him, is the Word of God.”17.
[17] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. [18] I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Our Lord Jesus Christ in these two verses confirms the whole of the Old Testament. He puts His seal of authority, His imprimatur, upon the whole of the Old Testament canon, the whole of the law and the prophets. . .You can come to one conclusion only, namely, that He believed it all and not only certain parts of it! He quoted almost every part of it. To the Lord Jesus Christ the Old Testament was the Word of God; it was Scripture; it was something absolutely unique and apart; it had authority which nothing else has ever possessed nor can possess.18.
[19] Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (NIV)
“Because the Law is immutable and eternal it necessarily follows that He came not to annul but to accomplish it.”19. One respected Bible commentator makes a strong case that “fulfillment” is the central theme of the Gospel of Matthew.20. Verse 18 stands as evidence that God’s law is absolute; “it can never be changed, not even modified to the slightest extent.”21.
In this section, Jesus took the initiative against those critics who feared that he came to eliminate their spiritual practices and beliefs. “The real meaning of the word `fulfill’ is to carry out, to fulfill in the sense of giving full obedience to it, literally carrying out everything that has been said and stated in the law and in the prophets.”22.
By his use of the words “law and prophets,” Jesus referred to everything that the Hebrew Bible taught about life, conduct and behavior. It refers to the entire law consisting of three parts: the ceremonial, the judicial and the moral. Make no mistake about it, Jesus was making reference to the entire Old Testament canon—not just the moral law. The best interpretation of these difficult verses is that Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets because his life and ministry confirms prophecy and reinforces the law’s original intent.
We are still under the penalty of law, but the price has been paid by Jesus who lived and died under it. “From now on it will be the authoritative teaching of Jesus which must govern his disciples’ understanding and practical application of the law.”23. It is now written on the hearts of his followers who are empowered to live out the law’s true intent.
The changes Jesus mentions in the “six antitheses,” which appear in the next lesson, might appear to nullify the law and the prophets. But that could not be further from the truth. The apostle John reported, “Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph’” (John 1:45) The Torah, then, is not God’s last word to his people, but is in a sense looking forward to a time of fulfillment through the Messiah.24.
He had come with the express purpose of meeting the Law’s holy demands, to offer unto God what it justly required—to magnify it by rendering to it a perfect obedience in thought and word and deed; and that so far from despising the prophets His mission was to make good their predictions concerning Himself by performing the very work they had announced He should do.25.
It was that fulfillment that would forever change how Christ’s followers would observe the law.
Christ fulfilled the Law by His doctrine: both by restoring to it its proper meaning and true use, and by revealing the right way in which the Law may be fulfilled. Second, in His person: both by performing perfect and perpetual obedience unto its precepts, and by suffering its penalty, enduring death upon the Cross for His people. Third, in men: in the elect by imparting faith to their hearts, so that they lay hold of Christ who fulfilled it for them, and by giving them His own Spirit which imparts to them a love for the Law and sets them on endeavoring to obey it; in the reprobate when He executes the curse of the Law upon them.26.
The period during which humankind demonstrated faith in God by observance of the ceremonial and judicial law ceased with John. The ceremonial law of the Torah and the temple practices were merely a type or foreshadowing of the Messiah. His sacrifice as the perfect “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” ended the need for the sacrificial system. All doubt about that was erased by the temple’s destruction in 70 A.D.
Israel is no longer a theocratic nation, a nation ruled by God, so the judicial law of the Old Testament has also been fulfilled. Since his resurrection the authoritative teaching of Jesus must govern our understanding and practical application of the law. His message of salvation by grace through faith eliminated most Jewish dietary and dress requirements.
The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:29) only required Gentiles to abstain from eating meat from strangled animals, blood or food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality. The law must continue to be taught—but interpreted and applied in light of its fulfillment by Christ. It is no longer the ultimate standard of conduct for God’s people—Jesus is. The Law must now be viewed through the lens of his ministry and teaching.
Surpassing Righteousness. In our study of the Beatitudes, we read, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” We focused on the importance of getting it, but neglected to examine and fully appreciate what the words “righteousness” or “righteous” actually mean. “The term “righteousness” and related words in Matthew consistently refer to a person’s obedience to God’s commands and conformity to his character expressed in personal behavior, speech, and attitudes.”27. Such righteousness is a grace of God granted to those who hunger and thirst for it.
Jesus became human to portray God’s righteousness in a world that had little understanding of the term. He demonstrated the right way to live in the kingdom of God. Because he purchased our righteousness with his blood, his righteousness is imputed (awarded or given) to us. Followers of Jesus recognize that it is what God sees in our hearts, not what others see on the outside, that truly exemplifies kingdom behavior. For Jesus’s disciples, righteousness is his eternal standard of appropriate behavior before God and between ourselves and others.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (V.20 | NIV) Being a Scribe or teacher of the law, was a profession similar to being a lawyer. The Pharisees, which means ‘separatist,’ were a religious sect. Although different, they shared a common commitment to the study and observance of the law.
The scribes decided what the law meant and the Pharisees demonstrated what it looked like in practice. For all their scrupulous observance of biblical regulations and tradition the scribes and Pharisees remained outside the kingdom of heaven because they were blinded by pride. They were so puffed up by the praise they received for practicing the letter of the law that they missed its intent.
The kingdom of God is concerned with the heart—not external actions. To enter the kingdom of heaven does not mean to go to a place called heaven (though the eternal life of heaven will be its expected outcome), . . . but to come under God’s rule, to join with those who recognize his kingship and live by its standards, to be God’s true people.28.
It is doing the right thing when no one but God is watching. This is what the prophets Jeremiah (31:31-34) and Ezekiel (11:19 and 36:26) meant by God writing the law on our hearts. Jesus’s teaching is absolutely consistent with the Old Testament, but utterly contradicts the ostentatiousness of the Pharisees and scribes.
When Jesus called for a righteousness that surpassed that of the scribes and Pharisees, his hearers would likely have gasped and thrown up their hands; convinced that what he required was impossible. In our own power they would have been correct. The good news is he gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to do what we cannot do ourselves.
Christian living and righteousness are synonymous. To be anything else makes us religious, but not saved. “Self proclaimed Christians who worship a god that requires no self-sacrifice, no obedience, no submission, and no surrender are not worshiping the God of the Bible, no matter how much they claim they love Jesus.”29.
We are children of God and citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Because of that, we must demonstrate the characteristics of God’s people in order to glorify him so others will want to come to Jesus. “This true and greater kind of righteousness is not just an option for the super-spiritual or a chosen few; it is a matter of entering God’s coming kingdom or not.”30.
The moral law, the cornerstone of which is the Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, as interpreted by Jesus and other New Testament writers, remains in full force until the end of time. Recognizing they are no longer saved by the law but forgetting they are still subject to it, many professed Christians have a false view of grace called antinomianism. They argue sine their sins have been forgiven, there is no reason not to keep sinning. That is an abuse of God’s grace.
If the grace you received does not make you strive to heed the Spirit’s prompting and honor God by the way you represent him, you have received a cheap imitation of it. Jesus taught that the proof of our having truly received God’s grace is a pure heart and righteous living.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15 | ESV) As we move forward in this study it is important to keep in mind the commands of the Sermon on the Mount were intended be obeyed. They remain an obligation upon all who would follow Jesus. “It advocates a piety that avoids ostentatious displays because they are directed to the wrong audience. The surpassing righteousness does not seek human approval. ”31. The early church took for granted that the sermon’s demands were not only to be obeyed, but that they could be obeyed.
Discussion
- What did you discover in the lesson that made you question a prior belief or assumption?
- Is faith, alone, sufficient to meet God’s demand for righteousness? Why/why not?
- How can or do you function as salt and light in your area of influence?
- What can happen when we compare ourselves to others?
- Do you consider the Ten Commandments applicable to your life? If so, why are or are not the other laws also pertinent?
- What is the difference between being justified and being sanctified?
- Is sanctification necessary for a believer or is faith enough?
- Do you recall a time when your Christian walk influenced the behavior of an unbeliever?
- How can you live for Christ without becoming an accidental Pharisee?
- How do you reconcile justification by faith and sanctification?
Footnotes:
[1] R.T. France. The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2007), 177, Kindle.
[2] Kent R. Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, Preaching the Word Series (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001) Preaching the Word), p. 77, Kindle.
[3] Charles L. Quarles, Sermon On The Mount, New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, Location 1626, Kindle.
[4] Quarles, Location 1656, Kindle.
[5] David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids: Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing, 2000 ) Locations 2231-2232, Kindle.
[6] Hughes, 79, Kindle.
[7] D. A. Carson, D. A.. Matthew, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) Location 6348, Kindle.
[8] Quarles, Location1704, Kindle.
[9] Hughes, 82, Kindle.
[10] Quarles, 1724, Kindle.
[11] Hughes, 83, Kindle.
[12] France, 171-72, Kindle.
[13] Hughes, 87, Kindle.
[14] Lloyd-Jones, 2327, Kindle.
[15] France, 172, Kindle.
[16] Lloyd-Jones, 2479, Kindle.
[17] Ibid., 2770.
[18] Ibid., 2761-2765.
[19] A. W. Pink, An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, Faithful Classics Kindle Edition, Location 1052.
[20] France, 10., Kindle.
[21] Lloyd-Jones, 2743, Kindle.
[22] Ibid., 2743.
[23] Fronce, 183, Kindle.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Pink, 999, Kindle.
[26] Ibid., 1029.
[27] Quarles, Location 2404, Kindle.
[28] France, 190, Kindle.
[29] Dean Inserra, The Unsaved Christian (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2019) 38, Kindle.
[30] Jonathan T. Pennington. The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (p. 178). (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2017) 178, Kindle.
[31] Charles H. Talbert, Charles H.. Matthew, Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010) 80, Kindle.
Revised: 12/09/2022