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A question of NT emphasis
Tom:
Chris R,
Thank you again!
Strong spiritual logic.
My heart is like a sponge for all your words.
Tom
Tom:
Zada and Bobf,
Now that is a unique angle I admit to never having fully connected with.
Many times in these threads this theme has come forth. Little by little this theme is impacting my heart. Your words have hit deeply in a good way. They cause such deep ripples of reflection, like a stone in a quiet pond, wave after wave spreads outwards in inward confirmations.
It seems strange to me that God conceals matters He so wants us to see, but I know you are right. He does this. It must have driven the disciples to near distraction, to walk with Jesus, and have so many questions, and yet He would only drop small potent droplets of truth on them at time, leaving them with way more questions than He was willing, at the time, to answer.
I remember telling one of my bible college students, "Confusion is the beginning of wisdom." It came to me after they were confused over something I had taught, which they had not caught, and demanded I be clearer with them. I basically told them they weren't ready for more, and they shot back with 1 Cor. 16 "God is not the author of confusion." All I could think to say was "Jesus doesn't author confusion...His truth just bumps into your own personal confusion." I think this is obviously His way with us. We want it all "right now," and He knows better than to give it to us all in the moment we request it.
Just about every time the disciples asked Him a question, He answered their question with an answer to a question they should have been asking, but weren't, and the look in their eyes must have been..."Huh????". I can just see Peter looking at John, puzzled for a moment, and then not wanting to look stupid, would have said, "Oh yah, I see what you mean. Sure, I get in now. Wow, thanks," knowing fully well he hadn't gotten a thing, but hoping the rest of the disciples would detect his dullness. Fortunately for Peter they were all as dull as he was, all except for perhaps John.
Anyway, your answers are potent.
The cumulative effect of each of the different one's comments is powerful.
I assure you, I am listening...nearly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the input, but definitely listening.
Thank you!
Tom
gmik:
AWESOME!
I tried to print out this thread so I could study all the scriptures.
Over 80 pages!!!!!! ;D
Tom, welcome! How I missed this thread I don't know. I hope you feel at home. I did feel the love coming thru. Thank you for sharing so much about yourself.
skydreamers:
--- Quote ---The chosen are now the Jews not by birth, but by a circumcised heart.
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh;
v. 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Now these chosen to be Jews, will also judge the Jewish nation.
Rom 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?
--- End quote ---
To build on what Kat brought out:
Romans 11:1-27
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life."
4 But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,
8 as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day."
9 And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever."
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.
15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation OF THE WORLD, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
19 Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."
20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
25 Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob";
27 "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins."
Peace,
Diana
skydreamers:
Zada and Bobf, I wholeheartedly agree with Tom, that was excellent, very cool 8)!
Janice....AWESOME...!!!
Amen and AMEN!!! ;D :)
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