Results 1 - 3 of 3
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Should this be taken only personally? | Matt 6:33 | Bill Mc | 17315 | ||
Dear Nolan, I don't think that very many people take the Sermon of the Mount literally. Why? How many people have you seen with only a left eye or a left hand? (No offense to the physically challenged here.) If we took what Jesus said literally, I myself would be blind and handless many times over. So would the whole Christian world. I am not trying to be funny. I am trying to say that we pick and choose what we want to believe and what we think requires obedience. I have already stated elsewhere that I believe that the Sermon on the Mount was primarily spoken to unregenerate people under the Mosaic law. What application it has for the Christian is, obviously, debatable. But the fact remains that Jesus was trying to demonstrate that NO ONE is righteous enough to enter God's kingdom by His works. Christ said, "You want to get into the kingdom of God? Good. Then be as perfect as God, and you can walk right in." He buried us under, not just the Mosaic law, but God's righteous character law so that we could see that we all need HIM. In Him, Bill Mc |
||||||
2 | Should this be taken only personally? | Matt 6:33 | Makarios | 17320 | ||
Hello Bill! I believe that the Sermon on the Mount is very applicable to Christians, but I would have to explain each and every verse to show you what I mean. We should not "pick and choose" what we want to believe and what we think requires obedience. I am not saying that we should observe all the laws of the OT, but we should follow that which is clearly stated by our Lord and in one instance clearly given to us in places of Scripture like the Sermon on the Mount. For example: You brought up the "Eye for an Eye" rule that is dealt with in Matthew 5:38.. I believe that this is a direct reflection of what our interpersonal relations should be with other people: relationships based on love and not revenge. However, my original question was more like this... Matthew 5:42 says, "Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." (NIV) With that verse in mind, consider the following scenario.. Let's say that I own a bank. As I am walking out of the bank to go to lunch, a man walks up to me in the parking lot and asks me for a loan for 1 million dollars. This man has also seen me in church and knows that I call myself a Christian. Therefore, the man says that I should not resist him or his request for a 1 million dollar loan based on Matthew 5:42. So, based on Matthew 5:42, am I required to uphold his request? (Based upon a 'corporate' view) Or should this only be applied in a personal way, since the money in the bank is really not my own but I am only a steward of that money? Therefore, if we are only to apply Matthew 5-7 in a "personal way", then does Romans 13 better define our interaction with government and how the government should act based upon the Bible? This is basically what I was trying to get at. Thank you for your answer! Nolan |
||||||
3 | Should this be taken only personally? | Matt 6:33 | Bill Mc | 17336 | ||
Good explanation, Nolan. I like what you said about 'relationships based on love.' I don't want to digress too much from your subject but you have hit upon an important concept. One commentator (not on this forum) said that the Sermon on the Mount in many ways reflects how people will treat each other as the are led by the Spirit of Christ in them. This echoes the truth that you stated about letting our relationships be ruled by love instead of by loving rules. Here is an analogy that helps me. BTW, I AM NOT calling you a legalist, brother. I am drawing an illustration :). Jesus says, 'If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.' - John 14:15. A legalist (I used to be one, still being set free) looks at this verse and sees, "If I really love God, then I had better keep His commandments. If I don't keep them, then I must not love God." His motivation is based on rules - if this...then this. Period. A 'gracer' looks at this same verse and sees, "As I abide in the love of God (because He loved me first) and reflect that love back to Him and to others, I will keep His commandments." His motivation is based upon relationship - "Since God has done this...I can, through Christ, do this..." Jesus' new commandments are to love God and to love others. All men will know we are His disciples not because of the rules we keep, but because of His love that we exhibit. We don't even have to try to drum up the love that we think God 'requires.' What God wants from us, He Himself supplies: Rom 5:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. The love of God HAS BEEN poured out within our hearts through the Spirit. So even what God desires from us, He first gives us. What grace! Sorry to digress...(Ok, not really) Lord bless you, Bill Mc |
||||||