Category: Thinking about Biblical TEACHING

 

⁷ If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”  ⁸ Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. ¹¹ Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.   John 14:7-11

Jesus chides Philip for not recognizing that he was God.  Having just said that to know him was to know God the Father, Jesus emphatically tells Philip that to see him was to see God the Father.  The words and the works of Jesus correspond to the word and the works of God.

We learn about God from Jesus not just because of Jesus’ teaching about God.  We learn about God from Jesus as we observe his character.

Do we want to know what God thinks about sin and salvation?  About repentance and forgiveness?  Do we want to know about God’s attitude to the proud and the humble?  To women?  To children?  We must look to Jesus.

The same is true when we need to evaluate a philosophical or theological system.  We must ask if its understanding of God looks like Jesus as we meet him in the gospels.

– SSxG

 

 

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. ²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. ²² Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.   1 John 2:18-23

To whom is John referring in verse 19?  Who are “they” who went out from us?  According to the context, these are ‘antichrists’.  They ‘lie’.  They deny ‘that Jesus is the Christ’ and they deny ‘the Father and the Son’.   It should not surprise us that at some point they profess a faith they do not have and never had.

There is another group entirely who no longer believe the faith they once professed.  These are people whose faith was genuine but fell into sin and who hardened their hearts.  These are people who have turned away from Christ because they want to enjoy the things of this world.

To avoid becoming part of this latter group, we must heed the many warnings in Scripture against falling away.

– SSxG

⁸ By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; ¹⁰ for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.   Hebrews 11:8-10

Abraham is that great example of faith.  What did Abraham do when he heard the call of God?  He “obeyed”.  He “went out”.

If we have this idea that being a Christian is just a matter of believing certain facts – even essential facts such as the death and resurrection of Jesus – or that being a Christian is just a matter of making a decision to follow Jesus; we are sadly lacking in understanding of what faith means.

By faith Abraham obeyed.  By faith Abraham went out.  Similarly, Biblical faith in Jesus is not merely intellectual assent to certain truths – it is a commitment to follow Jesus in obedience.

– SSxG

 ²⁹ Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. ³⁰ Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, ³¹ because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”  Acts 17:29-31

“All people everywhere”.  Paul was standing in the Areopagus in Athens when he declared that God is calling on all people everywhere to repent.

The message of the gospel is a message of repentance with regard to sin and faith with regard to Jesus.  This message is equally necessary for Paul, the religious Jew, and for the pagans to whom he preached.

The message of the gospel is offered to “all people everywhere”.

– SSxG

 

⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  John 3:8

 Jesus compares the Holy Spirit to the wind.  [Indeed, they are the identical word in Greek.]  The wind is independent of us.  It “blows wherever it pleases.”  You cannot see its source or destination – but you can hear it.

In my part of the world grows a tree known as the trembling aspen.  With the least slightest breeze its leaves shake and tremble.  Nearby are other trees that bend and sway only with the stronger gusts.  The pines make a swishing noise.

Is there a right or a wrong way for a tree to respond to the wind?  Surely not!  Nor should we expect a right or wrong emotional response to the Spirit living within.  Some will be settled, some excited and some will respond in surprising ways.

We take it as a given that the Holy Spirit distributes his varied gifts as he will.  Perhaps we should also take it as a given that our responses to him will be as varied as the personalities he has given us.  Only God knows what our response could or should be.

[And I don’t think I am pushing Jesus’ analogy too far.]

– SSXG

²⁶ Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” ²⁸ Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” ³⁰ So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?   John 6:26-30  NASB

Jesus begins by pointing out to the crowds that they followed him because he fed them.   Jesus admonishes them to not to work for temporal food but to work for eternal food.  Later he will describe himself as that food.

Jesus seems to be saying that they can have spiritual life through their efforts – their work.   But Jesus goes on to say that the work he speaks of is faith.  They must believe in him.

The crowd understands that believing [though it is a verb] is not an action.  They understand that believing in Jesus implies that he does the work.  So they ask what works Jesus will do to prompt their faith in him.

Is Jesus telling us that faith is work?  No.  Paul makes the distinction clear in Ephesians 2:9 [we are saved by grace through faith – not of works] and James makes the distinction clear in James 2:20 [faith without works is useless].

So how can we understand this?  The crowds understood him – that he was putting quotes around the word work.   Jesus was saying that the “work” is to believe.

We too must recognize that there are no works that we can do to attain spiritual life – there is nothing we can do but believe in the work that Jesus did – on the cross.

– SSXG

³⁰ Truly I say to you, this ^[a]generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. ³² But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.   Mark 13:30-32

In my previous post, I noted that the Law is no longer binding since it has been fulfilled in Jesus.

By contrast, Jesus’ words are binding forever.  There is no similar limitation put on his teachings.  This stands to reason, of course, because he is the very Word of God himself.

So in verse 31 we find Jesus saying that His words would not pass away.  This is true both of teachings we find speak about our hearts – that hate equals murder and that lust equals adultery – but also of those profound statements such as “I am the way, the truth and the life” and “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will never die.”

 

¹⁷ “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.    Matthew 5:17-18  NASB

I have been listening to The Jewish Roots Movement by Steve Gregg.  In part 4, he points out that Matthew 5:18 is either/or.  Either ‘nothing will pass from the Law’ or ‘all is accomplished’.

Many Christians believe that selected parts of the Law are still binding – the Sabbath law for example.  Yet, Jesus describes it as all or nothing.

Jesus did not give us the option of saying that some things have passed from the Law.  Either all the Law is accomplished or fulfilled in Christ, or the entire Law is binding on us.

If the Law is fulfilled and no longer binding, does this mean we can abandon righteousness?  On the contrary, the rest of the chapter and those following make it clear – as do the apostles – that righteousness is expected and demanded of believers.

– SSXG

²⁵ See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. ²⁶ And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” ²⁷ This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.   Hebrews 12:25-29

Moses was the one who warned on earth from Mount Sinai.  And what was his warning?  They were warned not to do certain things.  “Thou shalt not…”  And so God told those under the old covenant that they must not indulge in idolatry and sin.

In the verses quoted above, God now speaks from heaven through his Son, Jesus.  His covenant, the new covenant is unshakeable – unlike the old covenant which is shaken and removed.  If the word given through Moses was heard with awe and reverence, how much more should Jesus the Word and his covenant be held in awe and reverence?

So how do we worship or serve God with reverence and awe?  The first part of Hebrews 12 warns against sin in various forms.  Since God sent Jesus to provide forgiveness of sins at the cost of his death on the cross – forgiveness on condition of repentance – those who are under the new covenant are likewise to forsake idolatry and sin.

So we worship and serve God with reverence and awe by living holy lives.

– SSXG