Mike Ratliff’s post the other day, has so much to talk about. Too bad I’m not a Podcaster.
Great Old Testament Passages, and this line:
Mt 5:48 Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. KJV
I like the way the KJV still uses the old terms to emphasize:
The Subtítulo Differences (Singular vs. Plural)
- Intimacy and Authority (Singular – Thou/Thee):
- Used when speaking to one individual.
- Shows deep personal closeness, like talking to God in prayer (“Our Father, which art in heaven”).
- Can also show disrespect or intense superiority (talking down to someone).
- Formality and Community (Plural – Ye/You):
- Used when speaking to a group of people.
This is something Jesus was saying to the whole church.
When you read the 1 Corinthians 13 Text though you see just how impossible it is to do this. And looking at this verses we can see two ways to go wrong in trying:
1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Jesus was earlier speak about the impossibility of that first part when he answered the self-righteous young man….read the passage from Matthew 19:16-26 it ends with:
Mat 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Likewise, going out of our ways (in a self-righteous, dogmatic sense) perhaps for even the sake of good doctrine and giving our body to be burned, maybe even being burned at the stake for our faith? Can be done for our own personal glory, and not the Glory of God.
Anyway the perfection of 1 Corinthians 13, and perfect obedience needed in the other passages is a great concern.
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
It was encouraging in our Zoom Bible Study last night we were reading William Plummer’s Chapter on Works.. 29. Why good works are necessary (Chapter 28 in some versions) He quotes from all the old Confessions and Catechisms. Two good lines are:
The Heidelberg:”91. But what are good works? “Only those which proceed from a true faith, are performed according to the law of God, and to his glory, and not such as are founded on our imagination or the institutions of men.“
and the Westminster: CHAPTER 16
Of Good Works
1. Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his holy Word, and not such as, without the warrant thereof, are devised by men, out of blind zeal, or upon any pretense of good intention.
7. Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands; and of good use both to themselves and others: yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith; nor are done in a right manner, according to the Word; nor to a right end, the glory of God, they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God: and yet, their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God.
The Grace of Christ – Sinners Saved by Unmerited Kindness by William S. Plumer “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved.” Acts 15:11
It’s also interesting to read Plumer’s chapter where he describes Christ’s Active and Passive Obedience in some detail, a topic Mike mentions…quoting Machen. I had not heard it spoken this way before.
21. The Work and Sufferings of Christ; His active and passive obedience
His ACTIVE obedience was rendered to the moral law as a rule of life. His PASSIVE obedience was his voluntary submission to the penal sufferings provided by the law for the transgressors of its holy commandments.
Rainbow Trout 