| Thought you guys might enjoy a little discussion on this.'This' is something I posted in response to a friend's blog: I'm always a bit surpised he posts my comments, since I nearly always disagree with him, as I did here.*Grins* I guess I give him a chance to practice patience, and that's OK with me--hey, it's more blessed to give than to recieve.Heh.His blog was on the need for Christian humility.First, I quote a statement of his:"The Word of God is forever settled in heaven.There can be no changing by adding to or taking away from it; nor should it be abused by misinteprertation."Then, my response: This in itself is adding to the word.Scripture only gives such a warning regarding the book of Revelation.It does not specifically give such for any other book.We must also recall that the canon itself was decided by men.These men included some books and decided to leave out others.So the fundie position, while attractive to those who prefer a drive-thru salvation, is WRONG.There's not a single version which has not been combed through by men, and which men have not handled.This would include the decision to include or leave out things as they deemed fit.This is why study into the original languages, and meditation are of inestimable benefit to us all.As to humility-- Honestly, with the exception of some TV preacher and prosperity types, I think most Christians could use teaching more in the opposite direction.Most of them are so bogged down in anti-faith teaching they have little or no faith in what God has done in them, and continues to do.One minister I knew placed this sign in his church: Resting in the finished work of Jesus.Maturing in the continuous works of the Holy Ghost.This is a wonderful summary of the successful Christian life.We are nowhere told to love others MORE than ourselves (or less than), but AS ourselves.Christ put things in this order: Mat 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have left aside the weightier matters of the Law: judgment, and mercy, and faith.It was right to do these, and not to have left those aside.While we are not under law, Jesus says the law AND the prophets hang on loving our God and our neighbor as ourself (Matt.23:25), so they are mere extensions of this higher law--a foreshadowing, and, as such, we still see the need for judgment, mercy and faith: 1Co 6:1 Does anyone of you having a matter against another dare to be judged before the unjust, and not before the saints?1Co 6:2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy of small judgments?1Co 6:3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels, not to speak of this life? |
| 1Co 6:3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels, not to speak of this life?1Co 6:4 If, then, you truly have judgments of this life, those being least esteemed in the assembly, you seat these as judges.1Co 6:5 For I speak shame to you.So, is there not a wise one among you, not even one who will be able to give judgment on his brother in your midst?Please note that Paul clearly states that NOT being able to judge is a SHAME to the believer.How far from apostolic teaching we have come!I like that you include this verse: Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, Think of that, for a moment.Jesus' mother was accused by the Pharisees of being impregnated with Him via fornication.This was calling Him illegitimate.And since the Pharisees viewed such as unclean, it impugned His teaching and entire existence, including His ministry.He was hung to die as a thief and a robber and murderer would be, naked and in utter disgrace and total contempt.And we spend all of our time trying to cultivate some unreal 'holy' image to 'impress others for God' that makes a joke out of all He was willing to be and bear for us.Jesus did define holy.He defined it in the terms of 'chasid', an Old testament word translated as 'holy', which means simply 'kind'.What a lovely Jesus.What an inestimable treasure of a friend.*********I was then asked by another commenter:"1Co 6:5 For I speak shame to you.So, is there not a wise one among you, not even one who will be able to give judgment on his brother in your midst?""While we are not under law" How could one judge with the Power, and athority, of the law, if he is not under, and subject to ???****************I responded:We judge by the law of liberty in Christ, as Paul said.And that law is found in my original post, which speaks of the fact that CHRIST said the law AND the prophets hung on loving God with all our heart, etc., and our neighbor as ourself.This is basic scripture, and foundational Xianity, but it's surprising how many who name the name of Christ don't even know it.By saying what He said the way He said it, Christ made it clear that the HIGHER law was this law of love.All other laws merely proceeded from it."Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word THAT PROCEEDS (present tense) from the mouth of God."If God modifies His previous word to our better understanding, as Christ's ministry obviously did--"You have HEARD IT SAID--BUT I SAY UNTO YOU"--then who are we to say He can't?Paul summed it up by saying that he was not under the law of the Old Testament, but was not as without law to God.THIS law, the law of agape love, is the law he was under.All the commands can be simplified--and were--by Christ when he said 'Do unto others as you would have them do to you'.You don't need a rule book for that: all you need is a conscience, some common sense and the love of God (shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost).Which is why Paul wrote that whatsoever is not OF FAITH is sin.(The word 'faith' in the Greek is 'pistos', meaning simply 'trust', which is the result of God's love toward us--'we love Him because He first loved us'.So truly, everything DOES proceed from these two highest laws of love. |
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