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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Matt 16:6 explained | Matt 16:6 | Elijah_Jones | 91525 | ||
The dangerous thing about Legalism is that at the surface it can appear to be obediance. The real problem is not that the Pharisees were being faulted for keeping the law, but rather in their TRUSTING THEMSELVES in obtaining righteousness through their strict keeping of the law. This is the essence of self-righteousness.. which I believe is one of the most, if not THE most dangerous places to fall into. Jesus was able to reach into the hearts of prostitutues, adulterers, extortionists, and murderers (man on the cross with him that joined him in paradise for one).. yet he met an unresistable force in the hardness of heart of the most religious adherants of His day. This yeast.. which is something added to the mix of keeping the law.. caused those infected to become satisfied with their own spiritual condition, and not recognizing the need for the saviour. This is a theme throughout the all of Scripture, not just the new testament. Despite all their strict adherance to following the law, their righteousness was still as "filthy rags". One of the first glimpeses into this condition was when the Lord began speaking to me of Cain and Abel. Cain brought forth an offering from the work of his hands (works) while Abel brought forth the blood of a sacrifice (redemption thru the spilled life of another). Unfortunately, the same yeast showed up nearly right away in the early church.. despite the very clear sound of grace being issued. A classic example (and there are many, many others) is Galations 3:1. No man is justified by the keeping of the Law, but rather through grace and the atoning work of the Cross. Again.. let me state clearly. Obediance FROM A RIGHT HEART, is absolutely essential for our faith to be alive (James illustrates this perhaps most clearly in all of scripture) and for us to live in Kingdom Reality in the here and now. So I am not suggesting or condoning "dead" faith in Christ thru grace as license to commit sin. They are opposite ends of the spectrum.. and constitue a turning to the left or the right. One turn is legalism, which is anethema to God as it decieves us into trusting ourselves instead of Christ and rests in pride and self-righteousness, the other is wanton sinning and disobediance and a jaded indifference to the consequences of living apart from the tenets of God. Neither place is where we want to be, but of the two.. legalism is the most dangerous, as it rests in OUR PERCIEVED goodness, rather than the darkness of our deeds which our hearts already know to be wrong and shameful. As I've said before and now say again, love is the most important of all. Love is a higher law than even the old covenant's laid out law.. and much more demanding. That is why Jesus pointed out it is easier to go thru the motions of keeping the law than it is to have the heart desire to keep it. IE.. "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." The thing that so infuriated the Pharisees was the Lord's willingness to show mercy, forgiveness, and compassion to those that the Pharisee's deemed "unworthy". We see this conflict everywhere we turn where the Lord encounted the religious teachers of the day. It pointed out to them that they were no better off than the "worst of the sinners" despite all their hard work. Thank you brother for this oppurtunity for me to share my thoughts with you. I pray that we will edify and build up each others faith and that no root of bitterness would spring up in any of the things we might see any differently on. However, from reading what you are posting, I certainly cannot say I disagree with what you have written in any substantial way. I do agree, for instance, that another BIG problem the Pharisees had was looking for the approval of men, rather than the approval of God and the hypocrisy of their actions in this regard. I am only saying that I don't believe that particular issue was the one that was being referred to as leaven. Rather I feel that is a SYMPTOM of self-righteousness and trusting in ourselves, rather than the root. Play acting and self-righteos pomp always "feel" better is we have an approving audience. |
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2 | Matt 16:6 explained | Matt 16:6 | bronx hulk | 91692 | ||
OK, I've read this over and over again. I agree with you almost 100 percent. Where we differ is that (it seems, correct me if I'm wrong) you think the Pharisees were trying to obtain righteousness through works. My belief is that I don't think they were trying to obtain righteousness by any means; they were only in it for themselves. Being a Pharisee was only a means of income and power for (most of) them. It was never about the work of God. Except for some like Nicodemus and Gamaliel. They only wanted to give the apperance of being righteous while neglecting the real work of God all along just so they could have their place in the high seats and power in government. Let's not forget the setting of the time. Romans ruled the land and the Jews were powerless. Being a Pharisee or High priest gave them some power in government. And this is where we do agree: They never understood what God's law was really about. Like it says in Matt 23:23... you have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. So to me, the leaven was still their ungodliness, no matter what form it was in. Wheather it be self righteousness as you said, or their outright ignorance to the real meaning of the scriptures. And the leaven we see today is the same thing. Either people giving the appearance of being Godly for their own personal reasons or people who are blind to what the Word of God is really saying. So I do think we are on the same sheet of music here. It seems like the only area we differ is in the belief of the motives of the Pharisees and Saducees. It is so hard to truly understand someone through this type of interaction. So if you think I'm misunderstanding your points, please let me know. But like I said before this is great training and will really help with being able to expound on the Word. Now one thing I did see that you wrote that I have a different opinion on is Cain and Abel. Which is an entirely different topic. I don't believe God was displeased with Cain because his offering was of his works. I believe that God was displeased because Cains offering was not the best of the best from his crop. It says that Abel gave of the first and fatlings from his sheep. (I don't have a bible on me so I can't quote it exactly). And God had respect for Abel and his offering and not for Cains. Cain and Abel weren't looking for redemption because there was nothing to be redeemed from. There was no sin here. They were simply making an offering to God. Remember that at this time there was no law. Sin was only what your conscience made sin. Cain knew that he didn't give God his best offering so God was displeased. Just like he knew he shouldn't have killed his brother. Did Cain break a law when he killed Abel? No, because "thou shalt not kill" was not law yet. But because his conscience knew it was wrong, it became sin regardless if there was a law or not. Rom 2:14,15 What are your thoughts on that? Your brother, Sal |
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3 | Matt 16:6 explained | Matt 16:6 | Elijah_Jones | 91705 | ||
Good post and thought here! I do think that Pharisees were trying to obtain righteousness. Jesus said it well when he said "You search the Scriptures for in them you THINK you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me". I'm convinced that the Pharisees really thought they were more righteous than everyone else, because they were doing better than everyone else. Hence, they looked like whitewashed tombs. Everything looked good on the outside, it was the heart where the problem lay. As to the Cain and Abel thing. I think I may have led you to believe I was expounding a doctrine. I'm not. There really isn't a clear explanation given on precisely what the problem was between the two. I'm not even sure we're told why they decided it was appropriate to even give an offering in the first place. We are left to fill in the gaps.. so to speak. It may be exactly what you are stating, it might be what I am stating, it might be something else altogether. All I meant to say was that when I was involved in studying out the danger of self-righteousness thru works, this Scripture came to me as a type of prophetic illustration of the difference between faith in Christ and our laboring to get right with God. I maintain that the thing that we can add to our obediance that becomes leaven is a foolish trust that our salvation rests in how well we obey God. It rests solely on Jesus's work on the cross and our trust in His work. Our obediance is simply "proof of the pudding" that we have in deed come to faith in Christ. I agree that we are in the same sheet of music. :) I am blessed to have had this oppurtunity for us to look at each other's understandings, and hope and pray that we are both built up in our faith and our love for one another. I know that I have been! Be blessed, my brother in Christ. |
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4 | Matt 16:6 explained | Matt 16:6 | bronx hulk | 91968 | ||
amen. May the Lord continue to do a great work through this website. |
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