Bible Question:
Dear Cheri, Hank, Brad, WOS, and others, This is a question for you since you were some of the ones who strongly advised me to read the New Testament first before trying to understand the Old Testament. Well, after stopping at the end of Deuteronomy, I went to Matthew which you recommended as a great start. Okay, now that I am finished reading Matthew I want to ask you some questions before continuing. My very first concern is with Matthew 5:17-18, where Jesus basically says he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill, for until heaven and earth pass away not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled. An obvious and logical assumption to make is that since heaven and earth have not passed and all has not been fulfilled yet, every jot and tittle of the law are still valid. Not any part of the law has been deleted. It's as clear as a bright sunny day. Yet many of God's commands are no longer viewed as relevent. God's commands of death to a homosexual, death to a man who commits adultery, death to a man who breaks the sabbath and death to man who rapes should all be still be valid, shouldn't they? We still uphold the ban on homosexuality, the sin of adultery and the evil of rape, but we disregard God's command of death to those sinners. Confusing? To me it is very confusing. One of the recent posts on this forum mentioned Psalm 119, so I read that chapter, all 176 verses. In no uncertain terms God declares all of His words, commandments, precepts, statutes, judgments, testimonies and laws are perfect, righteous, faithful, truthful, good and pure and they endure forever to all generations. How much clearer must it get that no part of God's law could ever be abolished? They should be as God declares, perfect, and as Jesus declares, as eternal as heaven and earth. Why with such overwhelming evidence of God's eternal nature, have we gone against Him? Here's another concern of mine found in Matthew 5:31-32, Jesus proclaims a divorcee who remarries commits adultery. The question here is how in the world will the countless number of divorced couples, including myself, who have been remarried make it to heaven while continuing to live in the sin of adultery? My third passage in question is concerning Matthew 5:38-48. Jesus said ignore the eye for eye, tooth for tooth code, instead, resist no evil, turn the other cheek, if a man sues you, give him more, go the extra mile, love your enemies, bless them, do good to them and pray for them that curse, hate, persecute and despitefully use you and you will be perfect as your Father in heaven. I wonder what Christian in the world today practices what Jesus is saying here or even believes it. Even people on this forum, as Written has warned me, will probably view me as the evil one, the enemy who promotes consumption of the "devil's drink." I wonder if they will obey Jesus' council to turn the other cheek and love the enemy? Or will they cast me out banning me forever from this forum? Believe me, I am not the enemy. I love God with all my heart and I just want to do what He commands me to do. The truth is guys, God has given me a mind to seek the answers. Many of these passages were never told to me by my pastor and I never pursued reading the entire bible until now. I don't believe for a second that I am misreading, misquoting, misinterpreting or inventing ideas. You may say that I am taking things out of context, but I ask you what are the contexts of "love your enemies," "adultery is sin," and "everything that God does is perfect and does not change?" Why should the contexts be anything other than what they say? Unless of course it is uncomfortable to face the truth, then a spin is put on the passage and away we all go. As I read word for word, I can't help think that if God meant for it to mean something else He would have said it differently, a far easier way, after all, He is God. Please, members of this forum, as Jesus has said, if you we have faith as little as a mustard seed we can move mountains, nothing will be impossible(Matt 17:20). Certainly, our faith should be strong enough to help us to find the answers. God bless you all, Pete |
Bible Answer: Pete, Hello again, Thank you for bringing up some very interesting points to ponder. One thing becomes obvious to me: what is happening here is a selection of passages that seem to be contradictory on the surface, but when lining them up with the whole of Scripture, God's wonderful plan becomes abundantly clear. Scripture will always prove Scripture. It is against God's nature for there to be a single contradiction. When there appears to be anything amiss, it is always us who possess the faulty wisdom and not God. What you are standing upon, is the letter of the law. Not the Spirit. God's Spirit verses ink. At the risk of over-simplifying, I want to give my opinion of the Ten Commandments: The Commands were not given in order to let God choose between the ones who could keep them, better than the ones who were unable to keep them. It is about Love more than it is about obedience. Since we are unable to give God anything that He did not give to us first, then how would God actually benefit from our efforts? This is would actually amount to salvation by works. Which we have been told, is utterly imposible: For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. (James 2:10 NASB) Since we will all fail, every one, the purpose of God's commands is not to keep us in line, but rather to teach us about who God is, that He is something we cannot be. God is holy, and we are sinful. 'For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.' (Lev 11:45 NASB) Yet we will ALL fail, as implied in Romans: "even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a GIFT by His grace through the redemption WHICH IS IN Christ Jesus" (3:22-24, NASB, -emphasis mine) So then, where do we ever get our sufficiency for living a godly lifestyle? We are to recognize that our sufficiency will always fail in contrast to God’s sufficiency. Man’s sufficiency, the Bible makes clear, is not sufficient. We simply do not have the resources that make us capable to meet the task set before us. The task is godliness. We simply do not possess the adequate resources to undertake the task of godliness—despite the fact that such is the path in which we are required to walk. (So, Pray for strength! -The Lord's Prayer is found in Matthew 6) When we notice the contrast between our sufficiency and God’s sufficiency, we should also notice that this speaks of the differences between living by the old covenant of law and the new covenant of grace. You may remember while reading in Matthew, as you came to the Last Supper, where Jesus said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is shed for you." This means that the shed blood of Jesus Christ, is actually purchasing for God's children an awesome new arrangement for walking with God. And Paul writes in his epistle to the Corinthians, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, (6), who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor 3:5-6 NASB) To sum up, We are to be servants, Yes, but New covenant servants. This means we, as Christians are to occupy ourselves in the service of God under the terms of the New covenant. The parable of the Talents was also in Matthew. Might I suggest you go back to re-read Matthew in a new light? Remember, the parable of the talents is among three farewell parables that Jesus gave to His apostles shortly before the Last Supper. This was obviously something that Jesus wanted to leave with His apostles before He departed. In Him, keliy |