The Gentleness of Christ
63John 8
1. Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
2. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
Though Jesus had already been received with mixed reaction the day before, He came back to the temple to teach. (2 Peter 3:9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.) Even facing rejection Jesus came back for more. The Feast of Tabernacles had ended but many still remained in Jerusalem. They had heard a lot about Jesus, had listened to Him the day before, and now came back for more.
3. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4. They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6. This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
There are a couple of question that arise out of this situation. (1) Where was the man with whom she had committed adultery? (2) When and how was the woman caught? It is kind of obvious that her accusers knew what was going on and with whom she was with at the time. So by this we know that somehow someway it was a set-up.
According to the law of Moses the woman should be stoned along with the man also. The woman was merely being used as a patsy for them to find something on Jesus that would allow them to trap Him. They had phrased their words carefully expecting that whatever answer Jesus gave would alienate one group of people or another. Their only purpose was to embarrass Jesus. But Jesus did not say what the accusers expected. They expected Him to condemn the woman, but Jesus discerned deep into their hearts and saw what was inside of them also. Jesus saw the filthiness of their hearts. Apparently Jesus was in no big rush to answer them. I can imagine a deadening silence.
7. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Adultery, by its nature, is done in privacy and there will generally be no witnesses. Can anyone present claim to have seen the act? If they do claim to have seen the act are they not as guilty as the ones doing the act? Since the witnesses would have to initialize the stoning, they would in fact admit their own guilt. What they didn't know was that Jesus was being merciful to them also. In their zeal to trap Jesus they have also sprung the trap upon themselves. When Jesus did make a comment, He was not commanding that judicial systems require sinless judges ( that would be impossible). The only sinless judge is Jesus Himself, and He refused to make judgement here. He was not making light of the woman's sin, He was not contradicting the Law's view of adultery. He Himself would pay for her sins with His own blood. Convicted by their own conscience each man quietly removed himself.
10. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11. She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Jesus is never as concerned with our past as he is with our future. He is less interested in punishment than He is in restoration. If His words sound too lenient for the sin of adultery, they are balanced by His command to "go and sin no more". Jesus' handling of the situation may easily be compared to Solomon's handling of the two women with one baby, (1Kings 3: 16-28). Solomon was considered to be the wisest man that ever lived. Jesus wisdom exceeded that of Solomon- for He is both God and man. He had balanced several major truths without compromise. He upheld the Law (the legal penalty of stoning), so none could accuse Him in that respect. He exposed the evilness in the accusers hearts that requires that the sinless one among them cast the first stone. While not condoning adultery, He also showed the true spirit of the Law by showing compassion and forgiveness. Most importantly He showed the woman that she was more important than the sin she had committed.
John 3
16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Isaiah 49
8. Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
2 Corinthians 6
2. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
Indescibable by Chris Tomlin
Prayer
Father God we thank you for your plan of salvation. We thank you Father for the love and compassion you have shown us. We know Father that we have sinned and have come short of your glory. We thank you Father for forgiving our sins and setting our feet on the straight path. Let us not judge others Father as these in this study have done. Let us show compassion as you have shown compassion Father. Let us continue to grow in your grace Father. In the mighty and precious name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.
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Comments
Another great hub SirDent! Thanks my friend. Have you read any of Francis Chan's stuff? I have some videos of him on my latest hub.
God bless and Jesus REIGNS!!
Sir Dent, You have poignantly displayed the mercy of God through His Son, Jesus.
We are all sinners and therefore worthy of the judgment of God. Only mercy and grace save us.
Thanks again!
VP I appreciate your comment and encouragement. Thank fo the read and I pray the Lord blesses you in your work.
Froggy, I appreciate the invitation and the comment but due to my internet connection being dialup I find it way to o hard to watch videos online.
Great hub. This has a much needed message and it's conveyed very nicely. :)
Rob, I appreciate your read and comment. Encouraging words always go a long way.
the definition of a prayer...from the devil's dictionary...(ambrose bierce)..."to ask that the laws of the universe be abandoned on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy."
I do interpet one verse different than you. I do not believe Jesus was upholding legal penalty of stoning, but showing the new way by stating he who is without sin casts the first stone. The Old Covenant had specific rules and regulations for sins, but under the New Covenant Jesus is emphasizing the importance of realizing each of us is a sinner. Just my two cents.
T.Keeley, I appreciate the read and comment very much. Yes the message of mercy must be spread, but at the same time if there was no punishment there would be no need of mercy.
Thanks for stopping by comonsense. I appreciate your input here and hope you keep coming back.
Sweetie, I understand what you are saying and agree mostly. The way I see it is this. We all deserve the punishment, but the Lord gives us mercy and grace. Mercy and grace overrides the "Law of Moses."
Thanks for the read and comment. I always appreciate them very much.
What I am trying to say is in the New Testament there is an emphasis between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. We are forgiven sins under the New Covenant, which has replaced certain stricter statues of the Old Covenant. That is just how I view it, but each person views it a different way.
Thanks for clarifying what you meant Sweetie. I misunderstood part of what you were saying before. :)
So do you teach bible studies at your church sirdent? I think you would be good at it if you have not done it already.
No I don't Sweetie. I used to teach a high school Sunday school class at the chuirch I attendede before. Maybe one day I will teach a few classes but at the Moment I am satisfied with what I can do here and other places.
SirDent,
First, I love the title of this message. Second, I appreciate the human author.
This is a wonderful story with so much meaning and so many lessons for us all.
Personally I see it (I think) the way you explain it here. This obviously happened before His cross, resurrection, ascending to heaven and Pentecost. Therefore it happened during the earthly ministry of Christ, Who was born under the law. The context is that those under the law were trying to set Jesus up as an opponent to the law or to the sinner. Either way, they would win and Jesus would lose, so they thought.
Jesus was the Master. He knew how to deal with all who came to Him.
I don’t mean to start anything here. This is just expressing my opinion. Feel free do deny, it won’t hurt my feelings. Bless you and thanks for writing about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thumbs Up ~ eddie
SirDent, sorry for the double post. Have no idea what happened. ~ eddie
Double posts happen sometimes Eddie. I appreciate the read and comment you made. It blesses me deeply to have you come and read my writing, which really isn't mine to begin with, but the Word of God.
You always bring a powerful message and are such an instrument for God. I truly love this hub and I listened to both video's. Both songs brought tears to my eyes. I hope both songs by Chris Tomlin are on the same CD as I must purchase them. Thank you for starting my morning with the Glory of our God.
With blessings to you, Laurie (Inspire Wisdom)
Thanks you Laurie for the wonderfully encouraging comment. I truly appreciate it as it is a blessing to me.
One thing I have to point out. The women had not committed adultery (check on the word before translation) so Jesus could not condemn her. How many times is a person condenmed by others unjustly or wrongly? As Sweetiepie said Jesus said what was old is useless and his covenant is the one that is supposed to be used. The religions don't do that though, they constantly will revert back to the old covenat in an attempt to shame or persecute those and put people on guilt trips. We are all the word of God and Jesus is VERY Gentle. full of love and Kind--which religious doctrine and dogma is not.
LG, Jesus did not say the old was useless. He merely showed the true spirit of the law. It doesn't mean keep doing what you were doing before either. If you have something to show about what the woman was doing you should share it. Keep in mind that Jesus told here, "Go and sin no more."
The world is already condemned. Jesus died for the sins of the world. If there was no condemnation, there was no need of His death.
I don't think Sweetiepie meant what you think she meant, but I may be wrong. it is up to her to clarify if she did or not.
It says somewhere that Jesus sad the old was not good anymore and the new covenant and his testament was the newer one that supersedes the old one. I just can't find the verse.Like I asked from another person on another hub of mine,,,just when are we sinner, when we are a cells and sperm, while we are in the womb or the moment of birth? Jesus came to give slavation to everyone, not a select few and no one is better or more colse to God them oneself. We were made by god in his image and likeness therevore we are part of God so how did we get separated?
Oh and in another hub where my message was deleted I asked if you saw God and what he looked like and sounded like and if he told you that only certain peole can see him.
Read Mark 12 and see who Jesus says are not close to God or him. You might as well as read John 20 and John 21.
I have never seen God with my eyes. The flesh cannot look upon God. As far as being a sinner goes, we are all sinners when we are conceived. Simply because we are fleshly. Still not sure what you mean by the old is no good anymore. I glanced through those chapters you mentioned, but see nothing to confirm or deny that point in them. I will read them more thoroughly later this evening though.
A question for you. Are murders and rapes Godly?
Thoseverses were not on that subject, they were to show you that all things are not in the Bible that you use.
Yes, God has told people's to rape and murder--so you figure it out whey he would do that.
Apparently you got nothing frommy Rape hub--that's ok. You have already pre-judged me as I am with Satan--but hey Jesus said that those who do his word will be persecuted.
About being sinner from the moment of conception-mand I would NEVER bring a baby into the world if I knew it was going to be something hideous..........
and this wuld not make sense to the Catholics who are Pro-life==what for.so they can have lives that are full of sin and defilement from God?
Just so you know, I will not delete your comments unless they attack someone else who is commenting. To me it seems you are going from one extreme to the other. Everything is bad or everything is good. You also seem to be very defensive. I don't want you to be defensive when conversing with me.
You will have to show me where God said rape and murder.
The parable Jesus spoke in Mark chapter 12 was what had happened throughout history of man. God sent prophets to the people and they were killed. God sent His only begotten Son to them also. They killed Him also. Remember, Jesus died on the cross. Next time it will be God in His fullness who comes, which is shown by this verse; Mar 12:9 What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.
Sir Dent,
I don't think that I am sounding defensive. Without the whole psot things are mis construed--that wasn't my fault they were deleted and I don't rememeber everything that was sadi or sometimes how it was saidd--I mean the wordings. When I ask questions and then the other person can't answer them they turn arund and tell me that I am angry when I am not. This hapens all the time and I don't get it.
Sir Dent,
I saw Jesus not Satan and it wasn'
t even like Satan. I don't beleive in demons wither--some yes. The ones they can and do have scientific proof of.
I gave a link in the first message that was deleted and in the second one I just asked a simple question and it wasn't a hard one nor was it condescending or rude. She deleted it anyway. Now every single thing that I have said has been deleted by here---even bible verses to prove my point.
So I am a minister and I have been told that my congregation is he internet and I am told to tel the truth as in what Jesus wants to say. Never did he say that he is to bring easiness or comraderie to the people but the opposite.
You will have to dig up those murders and rapes for yourself because right now I am going to be playing in meat and then going to bed. Maybe i will look them up tomorrow. I find that some people aren't ready for Jesus. I wasn't either, but didn't have much choice.
Like I said He wasn't Satan and I have had three othr visits from him too. I am not a Satan Worshiper. I used the Bible and I read the Bible, but I am not closed minded and read and seek out and find God and Jesus in other sources. That isn't evil or bad.
Thank you for not deleting my comments. You are patient and kind and sometimes understanding.
My apologies LG. I wasn;t talking about the other hub. I was talking about this one. Nothing I can do n the other hub to help you. If she sees fit to delete comments that is her perogative and right to do so.
I will wait until you dig it up since you brought up the assertion.
Abortion:
Hosea 9:11-16 Hosea prays for God’s intervention. “Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. Give them, 0 Lord: what wilt thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. . .Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.” Clearly Hosea desires that the people of Ephraim can no longer have children. God of course obeys by making all their unborn children miscarry. Is not terminating a pregnancy unnaturally “abortion”?
Numbers 5:11-21 The description of a bizarre, brutal and abusive ritual to be performed on a wife SUSPECTED of adultery. This is considered to be an induced abortion to rid a woman of another man’s child.
Numbers 31:17 (Moses) “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every women that hath known man by lying with him.” In other words: women that might be pregnant, which clearly is abortion for the fetus.
Hosea 13:16 God promises to dash to pieces the infants of Samaria and the “their women with child shall be ripped up”. Once again this god kills the unborn, including their pregnant mothers.
2 Kings 15:16 God allows the pregnant women of Tappuah (aka Tiphsah) to be “ripped open”. And the Christians have the audacity to say god is pro-life. How and the hell is it that Christians can read passages where God allows pregnant women to be murdered, yet still claim abortion is wrong?
Infanticide:
1 Samuel 15:3 God commands the death of helpless "suckling" infants. This literally means that the children god killed were still nursing.
Psalms 135:8 & 136:10 Here god is praised for slaughtering little babies.
Psalms 137:9 Here god commands that infants should be “dashed upon the rocks”.
The murdering of children:
Leviticus 20:9 “For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.”
Judges 11:30-40 Jephthah killed his young daughter (his only child) by burning her alive as a burnt sacrifice to the lord for he commanded it.
Psalms 137:8-9 Prayer/song of vengeance “0 daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”
2 Kings 6:28-29 “And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.”
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”
Judges 19:24-29 “Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, till it was light. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.” To put it very bluntly this poor, young lady was murdered by her mate for being raped.
Exodus 12:29 God killed, intentionally, every first-born child of every family in Egypt, simply because he was upset at the Pharaoh. And god caused the Pharaoh’s actions in the first place. Since when is it appropriate to murder children for their ruler’s forced action?
Exodus 20:9-10 God commands death for cursing out ones parents Joshua 8 God commanded the deaths of 12,000 men, women, and children of Ai. They were all slain in the ambush that was planned by god.
2 Kings 2:23-24 The prophet Elisha, was being picked on by some young boys from the city because of his bald head. The prophet turned around and cursed them in the Lords name. Then, two female bears came out of the woods and killed forty-two of them. You would think that God could understand that sometimes the youthful make childish jokes. Calling someone “bald head” is far from being worthy of death.
Leviticus 26:30 “And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.”
1 Samuel 15:11-18 God repents of having made Saul king since Saul refused to carry out God’s commandments (i.e., Saul refused to murder all the innocent women and children.) At least god realizes what an immoral, murderous pig he is on this one.
I Kings 16:34 Laying the foundation for a city using your firstborn child and using your youngest son to set up the gates.
Isaiah 13:15-18 If God can find you, he will “thrust you through,” smash your children “to pieces” before your eyes, and rape your wife.
Jeremiah 11:22-23 God will kill the young men in war and starve their children to death.
Jeremiah 19:7-9 God will make parents eat their own children, and friends eat each other.
Lamentations 2:20-22 God gets angry and mercilessly torments and kills everyone, young and old. He even causes women to eat their children.
Child abuse:
Genesis 22:9 & 10 “And they came to the place which God had told him of and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” It matters not that god let Abraham get out of murdering Isaac. To put a knife up to your son’s throat is child abuse.
I Kings 3:24-25 “And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other." This test was of course given to see who the real mother of the child was. Christians view this king as a wise man. I look upon his suggestion with far more revulsion then I give accredit to Susan Smith.
Proverbs 13:24, 19:18, 22:15, 23:13-14 & 29:15 God commands repeatedly that you beat your children.
Matthew 19:29 If you really loved Jesus then he insists that you abandon your wife and children for him. Only that way will he allow you to go to heaven. (That is i
You have given me way too much to study up for this. I will comemnt on the first part. As you know everything must be taken in context. My son recently told me that he hit another boy at school one day. Taken as it is written makes my son sound like a bully. There is always more to the story that what is seen on the surface.
When you read the Bible to get the right context, one must read whole books. All of Hosea is needed to get the right context. Just as there were cicumstances that led my son to hit the other boy, there were circumstances that led up to the point of Israel being punished for wrongdoing.
My sosn didn't start a fight, but he took up for himself when another boy tried to start it with him. God didnt decide suddenly to destroy someone. As a loving Father, He punished his children for wrong doing.
.............but he still hit someone--it doesn't matter who started it first. He could have chose to just walk away-like Christ did.
I know about taking things out of context. Christian's do it all the time. The King James Bible was written with ulterior motives. I get my verses and differnt wording from Biblegateway.com. I did give this site to the other hubber, but she deleted that one too. BibleGateway.com has many versions and languages the complete Bble and I search the literal translation against what is in the main Bibles that are in use today--King James and American Bible the catholis use--they are different for sure.
When the church finally comes clean with where and what they have taken from whom I beliie the fighting will be less.
Jesus is Gentle and he is loving and totally Unconditional--society and religion are not.
God is not like Human beings--he doesn't have those qualities. In an attempt to understand IT we humans use our very own tendancies to explain why it does what it does. God has to be both genders becaseu we are part of him--male and female.
That other hubber and you prompted me to write a hub about having children.
Also the way we choose how we punish/or not punish children has changed over many years--does God's punishment change too? There are some that use corporal punishment and then there are those who use the ingore the undesirable act method=what method did or does God use?
Did Jesus ever kil someone for not doing as he asked? Did he ever slap someone or punish them for not doing what he said--no it was the opposite. They killed him instead-that doesn't make any sense to me.
I did some research on the versions of the bible and kill and there weren't all that many entries in the Young's translatin but were lots in the King James version. You will find that with some of the things when you look them up. This tells me that the King James has another agenda and so does the New American Bible. They are not the words from the orginal, they have been edited for man's use. God and Jesus speak to each and everyone of our hearts.
Oh and I also told the other hubber that those in Jesus time were not dumb and they were very smart--which is not depicted in the church and religions of today. I suggested that she watch Engineering and Empire on the Discovery channel--she deleted that too. I have heard from others too that she deleted many posts. Tht is her perogative, but it makes her hub look like something she didn't want it to look like.
When is it ok to hit another? Sometimes it is forced upon us when we don't really want it. There are times when we cannot just simply walk away.
What I see coming from you is this. You are angry with the church for some reason or another. I am not saying it is unfounded, but you are looking everywhere for something that you actually walked away from.
I may be wrong for I have been wrong a few times in my life. :P
As far as the other hub goes, I ask that you stop talking about it here. This is not that hub and it really doesn't belong here.
The first thing that a christian will say when they cannot answer a direct question is that the one that is asking is angry with the church. Now take that word church and look it up in the Young's literal translation and yu will see that there was no word church in that bible.
Jesus was even angry with the church for good grief. They do not teach what he says, but what their traditions say and he was even against that.
I will stop talking abut that other hubber. I was giving you information--which you don't want to research. Why did Jesus tell us to seek and find the truth and that the truth is not in books and in the Bible-was that a slip from the people who put the books together?\
I am not angry with anyone--I am doing the work of Jesus, not the work of the Church-there is a difference..........a big difference............
First thing now is this. I missed your questions somehow. What I wrote about anger was what I saw myself. I have been wrong before and most likely will be wrong again before this day is over.
We need to slow down a bit and go one point at a time if we are going to have a good discussion. To answer some of what you posted above would make a few more hubs. :P
You said: ((Jesus is Gentle and he is loving and totally Unconditional--society and religion are not.))
SirDent says: Does unconditional love reward wrong doing?
You said: ((God is not like Human beings--he doesn't have those qualities.))
SirDent: I am not sure what qualities you mean so I will let you answer that first then I will reply.
SirDent says: Does unconditional love reward wrong doing?
LG says, That is why there is free will---now don't go off the deep end. Free wil isn't like some kind of cop out. What that means is we have a Life Contract with God to learn certain things in this lifetime. Bad things such a smurder and killing and the like are not really bad. This have reastions to every action. Karma plays in that from day one. You transgress against one and down the line you will get that back one way or another. So each action that you choose to do better be a good one because whatever you do it will come back to you. We are constantly making new karma as well as cleaning old karma. For instance, my rape --as horrible as it was--cleansed my karma and that of the person who raped me. That is done and I will not have to cleanse that anymore--it's like in the Lord's prayer where you ask for forgiveness and you forgive the others and then God forgives you. The lesson is learned.---for my sake thn god for that! So Free Will is not a cope out--it is a relationship with everything and everyone on this planet---what goes around, comes around. Jesus love and that of God is unconditional--they love us no matter what lessons we learn-it all pans out. This also goes into the qualities of God. We are part of THEM-in an forum I posted a bit ago......We have chromosomes and DNA and RNA and we got them from them--we can't be separate from them, they are our makeup here. We cannot tell God what his quailties and characteristics are because we are veiled. We are not with him when in this world--we can't be or else we would never complete our projects that we have agreed to do. He loves us no matter what we do because like Jesus we are part of them and they want us to learn and advance spiritually--be Chrsit-like.
You can disagree with me and you can look it up in your bible all you want....but the answers are not all there............they are inside each of us.............Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is within us.
I found it where the old is out and Jesus said it here:
2 Corinthians 3
1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The Glory of the New Covenant 7Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect[a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
I will study this and pray before I give a good response.
Study all you want, it is right form the Bible and I copied the entire paragraph as to your wishes.
Nothing is said about the old being done away with. Can you pinpoint the part which you are speaking of?
I beleive that they were talking about the letter being no used anymore and replaced by the spirit which is written on the heart of men. It goes to say that the letter kills and what was written on tablets, but is the spirit that now saves. You can't choose one verse in this and that is why I posted the whole paragraph or chapter. It is all inclusive. Some verses just cannot be taken out of centext the way most people do becaseu they give a different meaning then using the whole story.
It isn't saying the letter is done away with. It is saying the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. The punishment for sin is death. This is the letter of the Law. You can find many scriptures pertaining to sin and death and how they go hand in hand.
The Spirit gives life. I am going to try and explain this in simple terms.
When you look at me, there are actually two people and not just one. What you see on the outside is the fleshly man. Inside there is a spirit man. When I was in my sins, the spirit man was dead. No life about him whatsoever. When the Spirit came upon me, the spirit man was "quickened" (brought to life). Until the Holy Ghost comes upon a person, their spirit man is dead simply because of sin.
I think you can understand what I am saying. If not, just let me know.
viralprospector says:
14 months ago
SirDent;
This is another very good work. Thanks. I love the Chris Tomlin song, Indescribable. It is so true. I think it is real appropriate to the content of this hub in that Jesus as God in the flesh showed in this example how to handle things. Well, I love How Great Is OUr God, too, and it is appropriate, too. Nice choices, SirDent...
I want to accomplish things for Him, but I just make a mess of them so often. Jesus accomplished just what He wanted through His work. It is an example that I try to live up to in some small way, but wonder why it seems not to work out better. His patience that you refer to in this story is a big part of accomplishment, I think.