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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Obvious Evidences: Charity or Vitriol? | Eph 5:7 | DocTrinsograce | 243325 | ||
"Beginning in Ephesians 4:17, Paul's main concern in outlining the practical results of faith in Jesus is to remind us that life as Christians is unlike life as unredeemed people. Holiness and the pursuit of God's will must characterize God's people, not falsehood, sexual immorality, theft, malice, covetousness, and foolishness (Eph. 4:17–5:17). Such ungodliness, if engaged in impenitently, leads finally to destruction, but Spirit-animated love, truth, and goodness strengthen us in Christ, restoring us to wholeness (Eph. 3:14–21; 4:15–16; see also 1 Cor. 8:1; 2 Peter 2). "The apostle's contrast between life in Christ and life as a citizen of this unbelieving world means that his contrast between drunkenness and life in the Spirit is not an abrupt shift in his thinking. Drunkenness is one of the many destructive impulses of the Gentiles (unbelievers); thus, it is inconsistent for those who profess Christ to drink excessively. Like the rest of Scripture, Paul does not forbid alcohol consumption altogether. God's Word permits the wise use of alcohol, but it forbids drinking to the point of intoxication (Ps. 104:14–15; Prov. 23:20–21; Rom. 13:13). "Being filled with too much alcohol leads to drunkenness and destruction. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, on the other hand, results in sobriety and edification. When the apostle exhorts us to be filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18, he is not teaching that those in Christ get a measure of the Holy Spirit that comes and goes at will. The Spirit seals every believer until the day of redemption, and He does not leave us (Eph. 1:13; 4:30). Given the book of Ephesians' stress on the work of the triune God in salvation and on the fullness of Christ (1:15–23; 3:14–19), Paul's stress on being filled with the Spirit points to our need to be conformed to God's own character. The Holy Spirit exists in perfect, indivisible union with the Father and Son, and He is the agent by which God's fullness indwells His people. We now experience a taste of this fullness in part, though we do not yet fully enjoy the communion with the Lord that will be ours when are glorified. To be filled with the Spirit is to yield ourselves willingly to His sanctifying work as He prepares us for that final day. In so doing, our union with Christ is strengthened, our fellowship with the Father is enhanced, and we increasingly bear the image of God Himself." See also Psalm 149; Habakkuk 3:17-19; Galatians 5; Colossians 3 --Ligonier Ministries Tabletalk www.ligonier.org |
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2 | Obvious Evidences: Charity or Vitriol? | Eph 5:7 | EdB | 243330 | ||
Drinking Part 2 WINE: MIXED OR FULL STRENGTH? Historical data concerning the making and use of wine by the Jews and other nations in the Biblical world indicate that it was a. often unfermented b. normally mixed with water. The previous articles discussed one of the processes used in keeping freshly squeezed grape juice in a sweet and unfermented state. This article discusses two other processes of dealing with grapes, preparatory to mixing them with water. (1) One method was to dehydrate the grapes to a proper point, sprinkle them with olive oil to keep them moist, and store them in earthenware jars (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, V.882; see also Columella, "On Agriculture", 12.33.1-8). A very sweet grape beverage could be made from these stored grapes at any time by later adding water and steeping of boiling them. Polybius indicated that the Roman women were allowed to drink this kind of grape beverage, but were forbidden to drink fermented wine (see Polybius, "Fragments, 6.4; cf. Pliny, 14.11.81). (2) Another method was to boil freshly squeezed grape juice until it became a thick paste or syrup (grape honey); this process made it storable, removed any intoxicating quality because of the high concentration of sugar and preserved its sweetness (see Columella, "On Agriculture", 12.19.1-6 and 20.1-8; Pliny, "Natural History", 14.11.80). This was then stored in large jars or skins. The paste could be used as a jam for their bread or dissolved in water to make grape juice once again (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, V.882-884). "It is probable that the grape wwas largely cultivated as a source of sugar: the juice expressed in the 'wine press' was reduced by boiling to a liquid ...known as 'grape honey'" (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia of the Bible, V.3050). References to honey in the Bible frequently refer to grape honey (called "debash" by the Jews) rather than to the honey of the bee. (3) Water, then, could be mixed with dehydrated grapes and with grape syrup, as well as with fermented wine. Greek and Roman authors gave various ratios that were used. Homer (Odyssey. IX.208f) mentions a ratio of twenty parts water to one part wine. Plutarch (Sumposiacs, III.ix) states, "We call a mixture “wine,â€although the larger of the component parts is water." Pliny (Natural History,14.6.54) mentions a ratio of eight parts water to one part wine. (4) Among Jewish people in Bible times, social and religious customs mandated never serving unmixed wine, especially if it was fermented. The Talmud (a Jewish work that describes the traditions of Judaism from about 200 BC to AD 200) discusses in several tractates the mixture of water and wine (e.g. Shabbath 77a; Pesahim 1086). Some Jewish rabbis insisted that unless fermented wine was mixed with three parts of water, it could not be blessed and would defile the drinker. Others demanded that ten parts of water must be mixed with one part of fermented wine before it could be acceptable. (5) An interesting passage emerges in the book of Revelation: when speaking of "the wine of the wrath of God," an angel declares that it will be "without mixture," i.e., full strength (Rev. 14:10); see Jer. 25:15). It was stated in this way because the readers normally would expect all grape beverages to be mixed with water (John 2:3) In summary, then, the normal uses of wine by Jews in Biblical days were not the same as today, It was: a. grape juice freshly squeezed b. grape juice preserved c. juice from dried grapes d. grape wine made from grape syrup and water e. unfermented or fermented stored wine diluted with water at a ratio as high as 20 to 1. If the wine was fermented and served unmixed, it was considered barbaric, defiling, and incapable of being blessed by the rabbis. In the light of these facts, it is impossible to defend the modern-day practice of drinking alcoholic beverages on the basis of the Jews' use of wine in Biblical times. They are clearly not the same. Furthermore, Christians of Biblical days exercised a more careful attitude towards various kinds of wines than did the Jews (Rom 14:21; 1 Thes.5:6; 1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 2:2—historical/documental notes can/will be provided as requested) Cont part 3 |
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