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Continued from Hebrews It! (Legal Study, Chapter 3) Pt. 13b
12 Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God.John 16:9 "The world's sin is unbelief in Me".
John 8:11 “Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”
John 5:14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
2 Peter 2:21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness (Jesus) than, after knowing it (HIM), to turn back from the holy command delivered to them.
James 2:8 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.
There is absolutely no room for misunderstanding here. Unbelief in Jesus' ability to save sinners is absolutely dangerous on levels that are not easy to discuss. We are confronted with two hard biblical facts by all of biblical Canon. Fact number one is that we are not capable of Living up to the standards of the Stone Law, nor are we capable of righteously judging other's by it. Fact number two; Built right into the Law were mechanisms that tested Human Hearts! Kill so and so for doing this or that. Yet.. Mercy was written into the Law. We will look into this in a fairly simple passage of Moses to see this in play.
Exodus 22:20 “Whoever sacrifices to any gods, except the Lord alone, is to be set apart for destruction.
I have studied the Law, because much of it is used to sustain NT Apostolic writings, within the very writings. This is the most common device of God within the Law. He places a warning against Apostasy as an OPENING BOOKEND, then the Law carries forward to express things that are to be viewed in a Spiritual sense.
21 “You must not exploit a foreign resident or oppress him, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
God started this statement out with Israel in the literal Bondage of Egypt. He likens people outside of Israel to being in bondage just as Israel was in bondage with the way this verse turns. He is commanding Compassion and Understanding within Israel towards "Foreigners" within their camp.
22 “You must not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.
This, in and of itself is a massively compassionate verse. However, it gets deeper than this. A "widow" or an "orphan" can take on many meanings and happen due to all types of occurrences. By the stone law, killing the father of a child and the husband of the child's mother is a very act that "Oppresses the Widow and the Fatherless child". Not only this, but once the widow and child are without their Male authority, they become vulnerable to being used and abused by people in power. It is easy to follow through with the logic that "Orphans and Widows' are to be held in compassion beyond the initial verse that warns Israel against mistreating or oppressing foreigners that are within the residence of Israel. Instead, it is very fair to surmise that Widows and Orphans that are OUTSIDE the camp of Israel are VERY IMPORTANT to be treated with compassion. This isn't stopping here, however, it is also under an open bookend that warns against Apostasy! This goes forward to suggest that Mistreating Widows and Orphans of any Nation, no matter what god they worship or who they are, is a form of Apostasy to God! If a person reads the law to simply answer the question, how do I ensure that I am saved by God and how do I ensure that I am Righteous by the Law, they will simply discount the needs of others and ignore the implications of mercy in fear of losing their GOOD STANDING with God. However, if a person stumbles on to this Bookend pattern of the law and spiritually evaluates the Law, they will find that God underwrote MERCY as HIS Highest order of Law! God was parabolically revealing within this mechanism of DEATH that to SERVE HIM is to be a person of MERCY, while to serve DEATH is to be a person of Death (aka Satan).
23 If you do mistreat them, they will no doubt cry to Me, and I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will be widows and your children fatherless.
It probably looked like I was nuts as I exegeted Love and Mercy into the Law, yet here we are seeing a reinforcing statement that it might be wise to evaluate MERCY into the Law. This verse is outright saying that, not only will God hear the PAIN of those MISTREATED by people that claim to represent HIM, but He will BURN HOT with ANGER against those who don't act out of mercy. I mean, God is FIRST PERSON saying, I WILL slay you with the Sword, if you Don't show Mercy to these people. That's something to take note of.
25 “If you lend money to My people, to the poor person among you, you must not be like a moneylender to him; you must not charge him interest.
Here, again, God is specifying that the "POOR" person among you must not be charged interest "IF" money is leant to them. There are two takes on this. One take is that MONEY shouldn't be given to "the Poor" because they don't manage it well. Another take is that when people are in NEED, they NEED the money so badly that they can be driven further into poverty by Giving to them, with expectations of getting in return. However, it takes humility to give money to an impoverished person that may continue to be impoverished, without expecting a single thing in return.
Isaiah 66:2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.
Last OP Pt. 13b we quoted this verse: Luke 18:13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
If a person thinks that POVERTY in scripture is only and all about MONEY, they have missed a very critical point within Scripture. Poverty could be having zero social standing within a Body of Believers because of some pattern of visible sin. Poverty could be being at the mercy of one's piers because a person is such a deeply merciful person that they get run over rough shod due to their meek and lowly ways! A person that speaks about HOW SINFUL the world we live in is and points to specific types of sin has fallen into a very dangerous place. We looked at the Pharisee and the Tax Collector last OP Pt. 13b, eventually we will look at the Unforgiving, Forgiven Debtor Parable. That is the next step that goes beyond the Pride of the Pharisee within the Parable about the Tax Collector and the Pharisee! It's a big spiritual deal!
I'll just put it this way. God can and will forgive ALL Manner of Sin found within the OLD Covenant Law, which may be to the very dismay of many believers in Jesus. An Unmerciful, judgmental, hard heart, on the other hand can be a massive deal that God won't forgive. I'll write out this sentence very carefully. A sexually immoral woman who struggles with massive addictions will make it into Heaven long before the Judgmental Believer that points fingers at her and hates her for being such a disgusting sinner. I didn't just make this sentence up, but was paraphrasing from a few very famous NT passages. God looks at the heart, while mankind looks to the flesh.
26 “If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him before sunset. 27 For it is his only covering; it is the clothing for his body. What will he sleep in? And if he cries out to Me, I will listen because I am compassionate.
There is a subtle pattern that we see being established, here! God gives these heavy handed Laws and keeps restating that He is compassionate! There's spiritual meaning in this verse, also, but we will move on to the closing of the bookend.
28 “You must not blaspheme God or curse a leader among your people.
Here it is. We started just a few verses back that warned against Apostasy and found deep spiritual meaning within the verses contained after that warning. Now, we have the words "Blaspheme God", which literally parallels with Apostatizing God. This statement closes the Spiritual bookends.
13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God..... 18 Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?
2 Corinthians 2:1-11 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you. 5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
I've been exegeting like a madman. I'm going to leave these sets of verses taken from first and second Corinthians without Exegesis, so they can be evaluated at face value. They are frequently quoted apart from the order that Paul wrote them out to be evaluated by. This was a very awful drama that occurred within the church of Corinth. We will exegete this set of verses tomorrow. Today, if you so desire. Evaluate this set of verses from the standpoint of MERCY vs. JUDGMENT. This is a seriously intense passage to do this with. It's complicated and Paul left some "BREAD CRUMBS" within his repetitious words. There's a lot going on here. I'll leave one more hint before I sign off for today's OP.Galatians 2:9,10,11,12,13,14
1 Timothy 5:20
2 Corinthians 5:16
Acts 15:1
Jude 1:3
I will close with this final thought. Tomorrow will be a difficult Exegesis. It is what one could consider a very difficult scriptural matter to process. I look forward to seeing all of you there. All Love in our most Compassionate and Merciful Jesus Christ to All of you.
OP Pt 13d to be continued tomorrow.
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