Subject: Parable fo the Good Samaritan - Evaluate |
Bible Note: Brian: Excellent question! First of all, if someone had throughout their entire life lived in thought, word, or deed lived up to the standard set by the Samaritan in this one instance, then they would be a true neighbor to their fellow man and thus fulfill the second part of the answer to the question Jesus was asked (loving one's neighbor as oneself). Two points to be made here: 1. No one aside from Jesus has done that in human history. Romans 3:10-18 clearly shows what the nature of all Jews and Gentiles is like. Then we come across passages like this: "because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." --Romans 8:7-9 The only ones who are not in the flesh are the ones in whom the Spirit of God/Christ dwells (i.e. Christians). Those who are in the flesh CANNOT please God and does not subject itself to God's law. Those who are non-Christians have not done a single thing in their entire existence that pleases God in the slightest. Even our overtly "good" acts as non-Christians were not done with the motive of honoring God. The Bible condemns our so-called "righteousness" as nothing good at all, and the non-Christian is just storing up wrath from himself or herself. (Romans 2:5) "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." --1 John 4:16 We see again that only those in whom God abides (Christians) are capable of the love that God requires. 2. Then, of course, we have the other issue: the greatest commandment, to love God with all one's heart, mind, soul, and strength. That is a different issue than the one addressed by the Good Samaritan parable (not the question posed by the lawyer: "Who is my neighbor?") The non-Christian rejects God the Father because the only way to God the Father is through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Rejecting God and loving God do not seem to be synonymous to me. The bottom line is that Christ is the only one who has fulfilled the Law of God, and we receive eternal life not because of our works, but of our faith in His perfect work. That is what it means to be in Christ; and that is what it means to be saved. The Bible leaves no other option for human beings. --Joe! |