Leviticus (Concordia Commentary)

About This Volume:
God speaks in Leviticus to give Israel his instructions for the divine worship service. His prescriptions for the many kinds of sacrifices are attended by his promises for the forgiveness of sins and life with him. Purity and holiness come to God s people through his indwelling presence among them. The sacrificial rites maintain the status of God s redeemed people. Central to Leviticus is the Day of Atonement, when a special sacrifice dealt with the sin of the entire people. The sacrificial blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies, foreshadowing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his ministry as our great high priest.



This unique commentary explores how each chapter of Leviticus finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ and the present worship life of the church. Using the method of ritual analysis, it examines the agents, enactment, and theological purpose of each set of instructions in the divine speeches. Each section concludes with that specific text s Fulfillment in Christ his earthly life, atoning death, resurrection, and ongoing ministry in the heavenly sanctuary now on behalf of his people on earth. Then a hymn quotation poetically sums up the theology of the passage as it applies to the individual Christian s faith and the church s corporate life.



About the Series:
The Concordia Commentary Series: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture is written to enable pastors and teachers of the Word to proclaim the Gospel with greater insight, clarity, and faithfulness to the divine intent of the biblical text.



This landmark work will cover all the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, interpreting Scripture as a harmonious unity centered in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Every passage bears witness to the Good News that God has reconciled the world to Himself through our Lord's life, death, and resurrection.



The commentary fully affirms the divine inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Scripture as it emphasizes "that which promotes Christ" in each pericope.



Authors are sensitive to the rich treasury of language, imagery, and themes found throughout Scripture, including such dialectics as Law and Gospel, sin and grace, death and new life, folly and wisdom, demon possession and the arrival of the kingdom of God in Christ. Careful attention is given to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. Further light is shed on the text from archaeology, history, and extra-biblical literature. Finally, Scripture's message is applied to the ongoing life of the church in terms of ministry, worship, proclamation of the Word, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, confession of the faith--all in joyful anticipation of the life of the world to come.