241005-Bible-Pauline.txt

F5
7:41 PM 10/5/2024, Saturday:

.1.)
Contrast Paul's message of peace (Galatians 5:22-23) today to Jesus, saying:
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."

Let's look at the Jesus quote in more context from the Scriptures:

7:56 PM 10/5/2024
https://biblehub.com/nasb77/matthew/10.htm
31“Therefore do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32“Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33“But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

34“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35“For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. 37“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39“He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.

40“He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41“He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42“And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you he shall not lose his reward.”


.2.)
"Old Saul never met Jesus and disagreed with the Apostles who did."

In contrast, it was young Saul who had met Jesus. Let's see in Acts 7-9 to what extent he met Jesus and to what extent he related or not with the apostles.

8:10 PM 10/5/2024
https://biblehub.com/nasb77/acts/7.htm
55But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears, and they rushed upon him with one impulse. 58And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep.

8:11 PM 10/5/2024
https://biblehub.com/nasb77/acts/8.htm
1And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.
And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2And some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

8:12 PM 10/5/2024
https://biblehub.com/nasb77/acts/9.htm
1Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3And it came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; 4and he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5And he said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, 6but rise, and enter the city, and it shall be told you what you must do.” 7And the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. 8And Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. 9And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

10Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Behold, here am I, Lord.” 11And the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” 13But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Thy saints at Jerusalem; 14and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon Thy name.” 15But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” 17And Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he arose and was baptized; 19and he took food and was strengthened.
Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus,

20and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21And all those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” 22But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

23And when many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him, 24but their plot became known to Saul. And they were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; 25but his disciples took him by night, and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

26And when he had come to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. 28And he was with them moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. 29And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death. 30But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

31So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and, going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.

.3.)
"Paul's message is much different than the Jesus ministry."

That "peace" quote from Paul is actually a strong characteristic of the discipline needed of the Christian life, in contrast to the verses that precede it, of the works of the flesh, and more importantly of the verse following it, verse 24, something like,: "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

8:26 PM 10/5/2024
https://biblehub.com/nasb77/galatians/5.htm
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
(end Galatians 5.)

Interestingly, this earlier https://biblehub.com/galatians/5-16.htmverse 16 brings us full circle in a manner of speaking back to the Jesus quote; note the similarities:
Galatians 5:
16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

Matthew 10: (again)
34“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35“For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. 37“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

He does not say to literally hate your mother or father or your wife or your children, instead to love them, but what is that love in comparison to your love for God through Jesus Christ? And if you love those in your family with your whole heart, then to love God with your whole heart if not more so, is then the reasonable conclusion.

I see this as very similar to the life and message of Jesus' ministry, which He lived day in and day out.

.4.)
I'll add another quote from John that has taken on significant meaning in my life in recent years.
8:34 PM 10/5/2024
https://biblehub.com/nasb77/john/15.htm
1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. 3“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Now, we humans can do great things. Physically we build bridges, engineering marvels. Yet the Bible is a narrative work, on purpose. It contains literal statements, also figurative, metaphorical, word pictures, poestry.

In the above passage of John 15, Jesus clearly and distinctly states, "apart from Me you can do nothing." Yet we can build bridges. So, which "nothing" is Jesus talking about? Not the physical, but the spiritual. Nicodemus had the same problem in John 3.

Spiritually we can do nothing apart from Jesus. ONCE we ACCEPT this truth, then we must turn even more so to Jesus, to seek to abide in Him, to more deeply value His ways. He already abides with us, in us, in those following Christ. Jesus simply uses the word abide, "to live in, to make one's home there". Paul writes it a bit differently for a different audience used to financial exchanges and transactions when he writes, "The Holy Spirit is given to us as a pledge;" I'll paraphrase as similar to "earnest money", a promise, a downpayment of sorts. However, the Holy Spirit is not from men but from the Holy One who is utterly faithful!

Let's look at my Webster's Ninth Collegiate Dictionary on "pledge". Focus on definitions 2a, 2b, and 6a, which I believe are the most relevant.
pledge n
1 a : a bailment of a chattel as security for a debt or other obligation without involving transfer of title
b : the chattel so delivered
c : the contract incidental to such a bailment
2 a : the state of being held as a security or guaranty
b : something given as security for performance of an act
3 : a token, sign, or earnest of something else
4 : a gage of battle
5 : toast
6 a : a binding promise or agreement to do or forbear
b (1) : a promise to join a secret society or fraternity
(2) : a person who has so promised

To abide in Jesus, and to accept that the Father and Jesus abide in me as part of His redemptive work of transforming me, along with my faith to believe and my desire to repent, and His power to help enable me to actually do so, is the branch strengthened and given life itself FROM THE VINE.

To add to this overall train of thought (a handy expression that, but hardly literal, true? :), considering the Bible in greater context of not just the passage but the paragraphs before and after the passage. Not just the paragraphs before and after, but the context of the chapter, also the context of the book, also the context of the theme of the message overall.

As to Paul as well as the rest of the apostles, and the prophets, I believe the Holy Spirit inspires / uses the different things Paul and the others write or say to speak differently to different people with different hearts at different times, so those statements sometimes seem contradictory, but I see them as spcifically applicable depending on your situation at that point in your life. If you are obedient, one part of the message applies to you. If you are disobedient or rebellious, a different set of passsages speaks to you. Likewise if you are hurt. Or, if you are hurting someone else. Just as a parent does not necessarily have the same message to different children behaving differently at the same time, but some messages are the same for each child.

God through Jesus loves us. Yet God is still sovereign and holy or "pure" and uncontaminated in ways I think we of mankind are still barely comprehending, especially in His ways of love.

241006, Sunday:
In looking at Matthew 10 again today, I see another possibility. Jesus, sovereign, has the right to test the allegiance of people to Himself, and so to even set members of a families against one another? What will individuals do when tested against the conditions that exemplify selfless love?
I see selfless love as the love with which God loves us, *actively*, DAILY, as He continues to teach His ways to a struggling mankind.

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