1 DAY AT A TIME
https://youtu.be/gac9xzcX2V0
1 day at a time
BREAKING NEWS- North Carolina was given a
deadline by the justice department to ‘correct’ it’s ‘bathroom law’ by today.
They just sued the Justice Dept.
ON VIDEO-
.I want watermelon
.Too many signs?
.Vehicle towed!
.Liberty coin
.Alexander the great
.Pastors, Deacons, Apostles
.Rock City Church
.5 fold ministry
.AA stuff, sponsors, relapse, etc.
.1 beer?
.North Bergen
.Never goin’ back again
PAST POSTS [verses below]
ROMANS 8-10
VIDEO- [I cover stuff on the
videos that are not in the post- here are a few]
(835)ROMANS 7:1-4 Paul uses the
analogy of a married woman ‘don’t you know that the law has dominion over a
person as long as he is alive’? If a married woman leaves her husband and
marries another man she is guilty of breaking the law of adultery. Now, if her
husband dies, she is free to marry another man. The act that freed her from sin
and guilt was death! Every thing else in the scenario stayed the same. She
still married another, she still consummated the new marriage. But because her
first husband died, she has no guilt. I always loved this analogy. For years I
wondered why these themes in scripture are for the most part not ‘imbedded’ in
the collective psyche of the people of God. We have spent so much time ‘proof
texting’ the verses on success and wealth, that we have overlooked the really
good stuff! Now Paul teaches that we have been made free from the law by the
‘death of our husband’ [Jesus] so we can ‘re-marry’. Who do we marry? Christ!
He has not only died to free us from the law, he also rose from the dead to
become our ‘husband’ [we are called the bride of Christ]. Paul connects the
death and resurrection of Jesus in this analogy. Both are needed for the true gospel
to be preached [1st Corinthians 15]. Notice how in this passage Paul
emphasizes ‘the death of Christ’s body’. The New Testament doesn’t always make
this distinction, but here it does. In the early centuries of Christianity you
had various debates over the nature and ‘substance’ of God and Christ. The
church hammered out various decrees and creeds that would become the Orthodoxy
of the day. Many of these are what you would call the ‘Ecumenical councils’.
These are the early councils [many centuries!] that both the eastern [Orthodox
church] and western [Catholic] churches would all accept. Some feel that the
early church fathers and Latin theologians [Tertullian, Augustine and others]
had too much prior influence from philosophy and the ‘forensic’ thinking of
their time. They had a tendency to describe things in highly technical ways.
Ways that were prominent in the legal and philosophical thinking of the West.
Some of the eastern thinkers [Origen] had more of a Greek ‘flavor’ to their
theologizing [Alexandria, named after Alexander the great, was a city of
philosophy many years prior to Christ. This city was at one time the center of
thinking in the East. That’s why Paul would face the thinkers at Athens, they
had a history in the east of Greek philosophy]. Well any way the result was
highly technical debates over the nature of God and Christ. The historic church
would finally decree that Christ had 2 natures, Human and Divine. And that at
the Cross the ‘humanity of Jesus’ died, but his ‘Deity’ did not. I think Paul
agreed by saying ‘we are free from the law by the death of Christ’s Body’ here
Paul distinguishes between the physical death of Jesus and his Deity. Note-
actually, Augustine would be in the same school as Origen. Alexandrian.
(836)ROMANS 7: 5-13 ‘But now we are delivered from the law,
that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of the
Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter’. This is such a
[parts]
NOTE- Christianity in the first century was not born in a
vacuum.
Of course the major World View was Judaism- but the second-
very strong influence/philosophy of the day was Greek wisdom [thus my quote in
the last post ‘The Greeks seek wisdom’].
In the letter to the Colossians- the Apostle refutes
Asceticism- which was indeed a belief of the Greek philosophers.
Greek wisdom taught that the material realm was evil.
Way back about 6 centuries before Christ- you had the famous
Philosopher Socrates.
His most famous student was Plato.
And Plato’s most famous student was Aristotle.
When Socrates was put to death- because of his supposed bad
influence on the youth of his time [he taught them to questions stuff!].
It is reported that he calmly drank the Cyanide- because he
believed that when he would die- be released from his body [the so called evil
realm of matter] that he would finally ‘be free’.
Now- do Christians believe this?
Yes and no.
Because our bibles were written in Greek [which shows you
how strong the Greek influence effected the early church- our first New
Testaments were written in Greek- though the Roman Empire was the world Empire
of the day.
But Alexander the Great- the famed Greek conqueror who came
a few centuries before Christ- he instituted what we refer to as Helenization.
A form of conquering where you let the people you conquer
keep their culture- but you also use parts of your culture [in this case the
Greek language] to permeate the vanquished.
So- the Roman Empire of Jesus day [who at one time were
under the rule of the Greek Empire] continued to write in Greek.
It wasn’t until around a few centuries after the time of
Christ that the first Latin bible was written [by Saint Jerome].
But even his bible [the Latin Vulgate] used the Greek Old
Testament [called the Septuagint] instead of the Hebrew- for his Latin
translation.
Ok- the point being- the Greek world did indeed have a
strong influence on the early church.
And the church had to refute the belief that all matter was
evil.
The Christian doctrine of creation [developed under saint
Augustine- the 4th-5th century bishop of Hippo- North
Africa].
Was the teaching that matter was good- that God created the
material realm- so it is not inherently
evil.
But- after the fall of man [Genesis 1-3] a curse did indeed
come upon the earth [some times when the bible says ‘the world’ it is speaking
of the earth- but other times it is speaking of the fallen order- the sinful
realm of man. That’s why there is some confusion- till this day- among
Christians. They might read verses like this- and think the bible is saying the
earth itself- the planet- is wicked. Actually in those verses it is speaking
about the fallen order of sinful men. See? ‘For all that is in THE WORLD- the
lust of the flesh- the lust of the eyes and the pride of life- is not of the
father- but is of the WORLD- and the WORLD is passing away’- this is one
example from the epistle of John- here the World is not saying the planet- but
the world of sinful man- a fallen ‘world’ order.]
So- in conclusion [if I ever get there!] we- as believers-
reject the belief that all matter is evil.
No- man was created in the image of God- and God is the
creator of all things- both visible [earth- man- etc] and invisible [mentioned
in the above chapter].
The evil we see in the ‘world’ today is simply a result of
mans sin- mans choice to live in rebellion against God.
We can’t escape ‘this world of sin’ by simply denying
ourselves [though that is one aspect of the Christian life].
But God sent his Son into the world to redeem man- Christ
died for all men- and this is the Divine act of Salvation.
When we as humans partake of this Salvation- we are then
free- free to enjoy this life- that God gave us- and we don’t have to have the
mindset of a Socrates- who saw this natural life as evil.
The apostle Paul says in his letter to the Romans;
‘Present your bodies as a living sacrifice- HOLY and
acceptable to God’.
See?
Our bodies- the actual flesh we live in- can be Holy-
sanctified- when submitted to the will of God.
[parts]
VERSES-
. Amos 5:24 But let
judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.. Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
VERSES-
Luke 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a
Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luke 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I
thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican.
Luke 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I
possess.
Luke 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up
so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be
merciful to me a sinner.
Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and
he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Acts 6:1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was
multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews,
because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
Acts 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples
unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and
serve tables.
Acts 6:3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of
honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this
business.
Acts 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to
the ministry of the word.
John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that
ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous:
John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for
our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
8 Jesus
went unto the mount of Olives.
2 And early
in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him;
and he sat down, and taught them.
3 And the
scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they
had set her in the midst,
4 They say
unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses
in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6 This they
said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down,
and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when
they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is
without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again
he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9 And they
which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one,
beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the
woman standing in the midst.
10 When
Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her,
Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said,
No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin
no more.
facebook.com/john.chiarello.5
Note- Please do me a favor, those who read/like the posts-
re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. I deal with
issues at times that it would be beneficial for some of you to download and
save the file from the Word Press link. This creates a permanent record. The
on-line videos are only good if sites are not hacked- which has happened in the
past. Thanks- John.#
No comments:
Post a Comment