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How shall we know if what we believe is the truth, if we refuse to listen to and test the words of those who tell us that we are in error?
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What is wrong with a generalized instruction to "mark and avoid" those who teach differently from or challenge teachings of a particular leader or group? If we refuse to listen to and test the words of those who disagree with what we have been told is true, we insulate ourselves from the possibility of being shown why our beliefs do not conform to Holy Scripture and finding our way to understanding God's Word more properly.Read More
Certain groups presenting a Christian face and apparent Christian message, admonish their followers to "mark and avoid" anyone who may speak against their key doctrines. Whom did Paul instruct to "mark and avoid", and for what reason were they to do so? Do modern teachers or leaders have the authority of the apostles to be free from question of their teachings or lives, or is such an instruction the mark of a cult?Read More
To sin is to miss the target. That requires there be a target to be missed. Paul said that, where no law is, sin is not imputed, because sin is “transgression” – violation – of law. From this, we learn that the target is whatever “law” has been issued. Until we have a target, we cannot be held responsible for failing to hit it. And God, Who is just, does not count our sin against us apart from our having been given that target – His perfect nature and His spoken commands.
Paul refers to the Law of Moses as being like a school-master, tutoring Israel to righteousness. The “Ten Commandments” were God’s summary of there moral conduct that should be reflected in the life of any Israelite who believed and revered God...
Read MoreIncreasingly, Christians are debating whether the traditional belief is incorrect that Jesus was crucified on Friday. Some have embraced Wednesday, often resorting to what they have heard from others concerning the Jewish name of the day of the week. Others embrace Thursday in an attempt to reconcile the sole reference to “three days and three nights” in Matthew 12:40, where Jesus states, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
If we follow only the Bible, and begin with clear statements within the text, we can determine the necessary answer correctly and without resorting to speculative ideas about what may have been expected from Jewish traditions.
Firstly, the Jews co...
Read MoreOwe no one any thing, but to love one another…” Romans 13:8 (a)
Implications:
We are to avoid indebtedness; we must pay or render whatever we owe. Debt is an obligation, not an option.
Love is a debt. Debt is an obligation, not an option. We are therefore obligated to love one another; we may not choose to decline.
Paul’s instructions are written to the Christians in Rome in response to questions arising about the relationship between Christ’s saints – a new reality for that generation – and the civil government of a pagan kingdom. But those instructions are applicable to everyone who falls into the definition of “every soul” in verse one.
In 13:1, Paul says that “every soul” should subject themselves those in superior jurisdictions, which jurisdictions are determined and assigned by...
Read MorePeople are increasingly co-opting Biblical phrases, including things Jesus said about Himself, to legimize the current “freedom” movements. Bordering on blasphemy, applying a statement made by God about Himself, His salvation, or His Scripture to a worldly conflict that may or may not resolve to the benefit of those using it, is dangerously flippant toward Christ.
“The Truth shall make you free,” has nothing to do with public health statistics or medical treatments. It is a direct quote from Christ, Who said, “IF you abide in My word, you are indeed My disciples, and you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” John 8:31...
Read MoreJohn 5:37-43:
And the One sending Me, Father Himself, has witnessed concerning Me. Neither His voice (sound) have you ever heard nor (a) glimpse of Him have you seen. And His word you have not abiding in you, that Whom He commissioned, This (one) you believe not. You search the Scriptures, that you suppose in them to have eternal life, and those are the testifiers (testifying ones) concerning Me! And you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. Glory from people I receive not. However, I have known you, that you have not the love of God in yourselves. I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, that one you shall receive.”
“I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me...
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Satan is the enemy who first presented sin as desirable, enticing Eve to oppose God's command. Once she and Adam had sinned, Satan was their accuser before God, seeking their condemnation and punishment. Parents are often guilty, whether deliberately or negligently, of filling the role of Satan in their children's lives by introducing sin into the lives of their children, then punishing the children for their wrong-doing. We must never bring anything into the life of a child that draws them away from God through sin or unfaithfulness.Read More
At least since Augustine, most male church leaders have insisted that women have no place in leadership or teaching among the saints. Some believe women are to say nothing, to “keep silent” in the congregation, and that women have nothing to say. Those who believe women have at least some role are the minority to be sure, but biblical truth is not a voting matter.
When Scripture demonstrates women leading Israel, Paul affirming that women may pray or prophesy in the Christian congregation – requiring that they speak and the latter necessarily putting them in a leading role – when Joel clearly states that the women and maidens would receive the Spirit of God and prophesy, and when the original language of the New Testament letters uses the feminine form of the Greek words translated as “eld...
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