Randy Green's Blog, page 442

If Only I Knew – Part 1

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints [Ephesians 1:17-18].

The Apostle Paul had the heart of the Lord. This is evident from his every word in the Scriptures. He sacrificed his life to promote the welfare of others. He endured hostility and resentment for insisting Christians practice holy living. He knew this was for their own good, and that harm would befall them should they live contrary to the Word of God.

Paul didn’t take from the Christians to benefit himself. Rather, he gave of himself to his own hurt, so they would know Christ and grow in His grace. That is the definition of true love, God’s love. “For God so loved the world that He GAVE…” By definition love gives. It doesn’t take and even insist on having its equal share.

We today put the cart before the horse when it comes to love. The all important “I-me-mine” trumps all else. “I have my rights. Give them to me!” “I did such and so for you. What have you done for me? You owe me!” In all suchlike thoughts the other person’s welfare really isn’t considered. The bottom line: it’s all about “I-me-mine”.

We’ve become quite adept at building a façade in front of the old “I-me-mine” penchant. The façade gives the impression of a church building, and it wears an attractive religious garb. Even though we live the “I-me-mine” routine, we spruce it up with assortments of “Praise the Lords!” and “I’m praying for you”, and suchlike jargon. Stir in a touch of affluent middle class morality as a substitute for Biblical morals, and no one can discern the difference. Looks like the real McCoy to me!

In all of this I expect the Lord’s blessings to shower down upon me. If they don’t, someone must be doing me wrong. I deserve the blessings. They’re my right! After all, I’m a good Christian. Just ask some of the folks in the church building. They’ll tell you. I’m popular!

We’ve incorporated the general elections into making our determinations for what is spiritual and what is not. Let’s vote on it! I’ve got lots of friends. They’ll vote for me. They’ll affirm that my spiritual maturity level is off the charts. Just ask ‘em.

Such is the bane of the contemporary USA religious climate, dear friends. We will continue this topic in the next study. In the meantime let’s betake ourselves to the prayer closet to receive the Lord’s input.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...

The 3 L's - Part 3

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ [Galatians 6:2].

The Law was given to sinners, which created a problem, though the problem was not with the Law. The problem was that sinners are in rebellion against God and don’t want to obey Him. Sinners believe they are good enough to be right with God. This displays itself in legalism. Legalism is the practice of obeying the Law according to sinful man’s interpretation of what this entails.

Since all men are sinners, Old Testament Israelites included, law-abiding Israelites rapidly degenerated into legalistic Israelites. The same applies to Gentiles who attempt to do their own good works, in order to find favor with God.

This is where “the law of Christ” comes in. The Lord gave the Law to Israel. Israel perverted the Law into Legalism. The Lord Jesus interpreted the Law perfectly by returning it to its origins.

The Law was not given as a means to salvation. The Law was given by God to teach sinful man their need for a Savior. In this way sinful men can flee to their Savior and be restored into right relationship with God.

God is love. Any relationship with Him is founded on love because God is love. For sinful man to obey the Law perfectly—which is the only acceptable way to obey it—he has to obey from the heart. He has to want to obey because he recognizes its validity and truly desires from his inmost being to be the person the Law demands he be.

That, dear friends, is the definition of love. Love doesn’t seek its own good, but the good of others. Love doesn’t push self to the front, but elevates others to first place. Love doesn’t take what it wants and keep score. Love gives and overlooks slights to self.

The Law was given to demonstrate to sinful man how far short of the glory of God all of us fall. Sinful man perverted this to Legalism because that is the only way sinners can measure up to the Law. The Lord Jesus returned the Law to its roots by returning it to its rightful foundation, Love.

The 3 L’s: Law, Legalism, Love. The law of Christ is that I love the Lord God with my entire being, and that I love my neighbor as myself. This doesn’t require that I obey the Law of Moses. It does require that I forsake Legalism.

To fulfill the law of Christ I need to spend daily time alone with the Lord Jesus, learning to know Him more and more in order to grow in my love for Him. He is love, so I must get my love from Him. Only after doing so will I have love to give back to Him and to share with my neighbor.

I think I’ll pause now and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in His arms. I love You, Lord.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...

The 3 L’s – Part 2

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ [Galatians 6:2].

We concluded our last study with a Jewish lawyer, who tried to embroil Jesus in an ongoing contention between the various rabbinic schools of thought back in the day. This lawyer asked Jesus which commandment in the Law of Moses He thought was the greatest of them all. Jesus responded,

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets [Matthew 22:37-40].

Rule #1 for Bible study teaches, “A text without a context is a pretext.” Lest we find ourselves wading in a pretext, let’s begin by establishing the context of Jesus’ answer to the lawyer.

The lawyer wanted to know which commandment from the Law of Moses was chiefest of all. The context for the lawyer’s question was the Law of Moses. Jesus’ answer was to identify the chiefest commandment, and then to add the second chiefest commandment to the mix. The context for Jesus’ answer was also the Law of Moses.

In providing His answer Jesus quoted from two places in the Law of Moses. The chiefest commandment is to be found in Deuteronomy 6:5. The second chiefest commandment is located in Leviticus 19:18. This means the law espoused by Jesus was the Law of Moses.

Yea, even more, Jesus claimed the entire Law of Moses was fulfilled via obedience to the two chiefest commandments which He identified. Anyone who loved God with his entire being, while simultaneously loving his neighbor as much as he loved himself, in actuality did fully obey the Law of Moses.

Jesus’ position taught that the Law of Moses could not be obeyed outwardly alone. For example, it wouldn’t be sufficient for me to give the tithe and refrain from working on the Sabbath, all the while I resent giving the tithe and can’t wait for the Sabbath to be over so I can make more money. No! I have to give the tithe and obey the Sabbath from my heart first and foremost; then the outward obedience would follow.

This brings us to the “3 L’s”: Law, Legalism, Love. The Law of Moses was the Lord’s legal code for the Promised Land. It was in force during the tenure of the Israelites in the Promised Land during Old Testament times. Being the Word of God, the Law was perfect. There was a problem, to be sure, but the problem wasn’t with the Law. It was with man.

The Israelites, and all men, were and are sinners. Therein lies the problem. The Law was made for sinners. The purpose of the Law was to show sinners their inability to obey God perfectly. In this way sinners can recognize their need for a Savior, One who can bring them back into fellowship with God.

Hold that thought until the next study. We will finish the discussion then. For now let us betake ourselves to the prayer closet for some fellowship with the Lord.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...

The 3 L’s – Part 1

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ [Galatians 6:2].

April 15 has come and gone for another year. Americans young and old went through the ordeal of filing their tax returns. Some folks received money back, while others were privileged to dole out additional funds into the leaky cistern known as the federal government.

Then there are those sneaky persons who didn’t file their tax returns at all. Suchlike fellows have broken the law; they’ve committed a crime. They are lawbreakers, criminals. This is true whether or not we agree with the tax code or believe in an income tax. It is the law of the land, thus obligating us to obey it until such time as it is revoked.

In Old Testament Israel the Israelites were governed by the Lord through His legal code, the Law of Moses. Whenever any Israelite failed to do anything the Law required, he became a lawbreaker, a criminal. Whenever he did anything the Law forbade, he became a lawbreaker. Taking into account all the Israelites throughout the entire Old Testament era, we can count on the fingers of one hand how many never were lawbreakers—and we’d still have four fingers and one thumb unused!

Yes, the Old Testament had the Law of Moses. And yes, we today have many laws—federal, state, and local—by which we are governed. In the verse quoted to kick off this study, the Apostle Paul exhorted the Galatian Christians to fulfill the law of Christ. This adds still another “law” to the mix. What is this “law of Christ” anyway?

Ah, that makes for a right fine topic to discuss. Is the “law of Christ” a new legal code which is applicable to the church? Does it replace our federal, state, and local laws. Perhaps it’s the Law of Moses and the Church is obligated to obey it? Maybe it’s just the “moral law” included in the Law of Moses? Oh dear. My head is twirling from all the confusion! What is “the law of Christ”. Would someone please answer the question already?

Let us not be overwhelmed by this topic, dear friends, and drown in the depths of despair. Paul didn’t fabricate some new teaching, when he instructed the Galatian Christians about obedience to the law of Christ. Paul referred to the words of the Lord Jesus, while He walked the earth and taught the Word of God to the Israelites. Let’s check it out and see for ourselves.

The Jewish authorities didn’t support Jesus, and they actively opposed His ministry and teachings. They made it their life’s goal to thwart Him, whenever they deemed it feasible to do so. On one occasion a lawyer tried to trick Jesus into saying something wrong, by introducing a topic which divided the rabbis into contentious cliques.

We will delve into this mysterious topic on the morrow. In the interim enjoy time alone with Jesus.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...

Two for the Price of One – Part 3

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins [1 Corinthians 15:17].

The message of the verse we quoted to kick off this study teaches about life as well as death. “How so?” you wonder, as you read the words of the verse with befuddlement. Permit me to explain it.

If Christ did not rise out of death, then we are still in our sins because the penalty for sins wasn’t accepted. Accordingly, we must die twice because we are only born once. But…but…BUT Christ did die on the cross as payment for the penalty of our sins, and He did rise out of death to demonstrate God’s acceptance of His perfect payment for sins. And by faith we accepted His payment on our behalf.

Having done so we are born again, born twice, and we have His new resurrection life in exchange for our old life of sin. The subject of the entire fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is not the cross and death. It is the empty tomb and life, eternal life and the new resurrection body.

There could be no empty tomb apart from Christ’s death on the cross, so the cross and death cannot be omitted from the discussion in 1 Corinthians 15. By the same token the cross by itself cannot accomplish God’s goal of redemption for sinners apart from the empty tomb.

The two cannot be separated, not even for a jinute, and that’s quicker than a minute! The cross flows into the empty tomb. The empty tomb is filled with the cross. At the cross the penalty for sins was paid. Sinners died on the cross “in Christ”, and they were buried in the empty tomb “in Christ”—sinners, that is, who accept Jesus’ payment for their sins.

The sinner remains dead and buried in the tomb, but the new creation rises out of death and departs the tomb, leaving it empty to him. The old sinner remains in the tomb. The new creation in Christ Jesus does not. He lives with Christ evermore, and their residence is certainly not in a tomb! Hallelujah!

So the teaching of our quoted text is that Christ had to rise out of death, or His death for the penalty of our sins was not paid. God did not accept His payment on our behalf. In which case we are born only once and must die twice.

Praise God! Christ did rise out of death! His resurrection is indubitably true. We not only die “in Christ” on the cross of Christ, but we also rise out of death “in Christ” and leave the tomb. At the cross we are emptied of sin. At the empty tomb we are filled with new life, sinless life, life without sin.

Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. The cross must never be devalued, but let us never forget to fuse the empty tomb with it. Both together accomplish God’s plan of redemption for mankind.

Oh, that reminds me. Sorry I didn’t ask earlier, but have you been to the cross and exited the tomb?

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Categories: Church Age

Two for the Price of One – Part 2

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins [1 Corinthians 15:17].

Those human beings who approach the Lord Jesus, confess their sins to Him, and ask for His forgiveness—these folks are born twice. Based upon Jesus completed work on the cross, their sins are removed because Jesus paid the penalty for them and they accepted His payment. Thenceforth they are “in Christ”. As He is without sin, so too are they “in Christ”.

Those human beings who don’t approach the Lord Jesus to confess their sins and ask for His forgiveness, who choose to go another way of their own making or choosing—these folks are born once. They are not “in Christ” because they reject His payment on the cross for the penalty of their sins. Consequently the bill still demands payment, and the wages of sin is death. Ergo, they must die for their sins.

Each of us eventually goes the way of all flesh. We die once. We die and pass into eternity. If we went to the cross and accepted the payment for the penalty of our sins, the bill is paid and we don’t die again. Indeed, from the moment we accepted Jesus’ payment for our sins, we were born again, born the second time, born twice…never to die again. By going to the cross of Christ and accepting His payment for the penalty of our sins, we are born the second time and only die once.

Alas, but those who are only born once face a different fate in eternity. They stand before the great white throne tribunal of Jesus Christ and are judged according to their deeds. No, they are not judged based upon their estimation of their deeds. They are judged according to the Lord’s estimation of their deeds.

Dear people, it won’t be pretty at the great white throne tribunal. As the Bible clearly reveals, all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous, not even one. All have gone their own way. No one seeks God in spirit and truth. All our righteousnesses are but filthy rags.

This will be exposed in all its hideousness at the great white throne. Every man’s works will be shown to be contaminated through and through with sin. Not one of man’s works will appear righteous, all good intentions not withstanding. Consequently, Judge Jesus will hammer his gavel on the Judge’s bench and thunder, “Guilty and sentenced to the lake of fire for all eternity!” That is the second death. This group of humans is born only once, so they die twice.

We’ve descanted today on both death and life, mostly on death because we spent our time around the cross of Christ. However, the Lord provides a bargain deal: two for the price of one. He not only offers us death to sin on the cross, but He gives a second heaping helping of life to righteousness at the empty tomb.

That is the message of the verse we quoted to kick off this study. But we haven’t time to delve into the issue now. Our time is up. Let’s enjoy time with the Lord before bed, shall we?

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...

Two for the Price of One – Part 1

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins [1 Corinthians 15:17].

The cross of Christ is the axis around which all history revolves. Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for the penalty of all mankind’s sins is central for humanity.

God created mankind to be His family. Like unruly kids man chose to go his own way and be his own god. God responded by providing man-the-prodigal-son a way back into His good graces. The way is through the cross of Christ. There is no other way (John 14:6).

We sing songs about the cross, Calvary, Golgotha, the crucifixion. We write songs about the cross, Calvary, Golgotha, the crucifixion. In sermons, Sunday School classes, and revival meetings we hear about the cross, Calvary, Golgotha, the crucifixion. On television, the radio, and the theater we learn about the cross, Calvary, Golgotha, the crucifixion.

How could it be otherwise? The cross is where the blood of Jesus was shed, where the wages of sin was paid, where a holy life was ended so that the lives of all sinners might cease. Death came via the cross, death to sin, death to sinners, death to a world engulfed in darkness.

Whoever will may live because of the cross of Christ. Whoever will…that is the key. Will I? Will you? Who will? Yet even as we sing and read and hear about the cross of Christ, we cannot but speak of life, of living, of being born again to newness of life.

Don’t you find it a little strange? I mean, how do we get from the place of death with its grotesque and lurid images of a mangled body, tortured beyond endurance, mutilated beyond recognition, barely resembling a human being any more—how do we get from there to life, and not just life but true life, perfect life, eternal life? On the one hand the subject revolves around death, on the other life becomes the subject. How can this be?

Scripture teaches that two groups of people comprise humanity. There are those who are born once and die twice, and then there are those who are born twice and die once. Sound confusing? It doesn’t have to.

Every human being is born once. How else can he exist as a human being? He must first be born in order to exist. Every human being is born a sinner because his parents are sinners and like begets like. When Father Adam sinned, he became a sinner. Consequently, since all human beings descend from Father Adam, all human beings are born as sinners.

The wages of sin is death. Since every human being is a sinner, he sins. Ergo, every human being has to die. Conclusion: every human being is born at least once and dies at least once. The difference between the two groups of human beings is between dying once and dying twice, between being born once and being born twice.

We will continue this theme in our next study. Be sure to thank the Lord for dying on your behalf. He does like to hear us thank Him.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...

Foolish Sages and Wimpy Brutes – Part 3

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God [1 Corinthians 1:22-24].

Jesus’ death and resurrection provide us with the means to be a Christian. Too often a Christian is deemed to be anyone who says the name Jesus, or anyone who goes to church, or anyone whose parents go to church. As we just explained the Biblical definition of a Christian, the everyday identification of a Christian is faulty to the core.

Because of this some Christians sometimes distinguish themselves from religious folks by adopting the moniker “born again Christian”. I see two things wrong with this approach though. For one, the moniker is a tautology. Any real “Christian” is “born again”.

For another thing there is only one type of Christian. No one can truly be a Christian apart from being born again. Being born again is the way a Christian comes into existence. Accordingly those folks who skip the born again part and go straight to the head of the class by attending church and claiming to be Christians—the Bible defines them as non-Christians.

It matters not whether they have good intentions, or whether they are evil impostors who slither into the church to corrupt it, or anything in between. They are not really Christians because they are not born again.

They are born only once (cf., Revelation 20:11-15), and that in the way all men are born, viz., through the instrumentation of sinful parents. This makes them sinners also because God created each species to reproduce after itself. Sinners cannot give birth to saints. They can only give birth to other sinners.

In summation, Jews demand to see miracles as proof of God. Gentiles insist on reasoning out all the facts about God. Logic is king to them, not God. In contrast to those two, Christians preach Christ crucified.

The crucifixion of Christ displays both the wisdom of God and the power of God. The two phrases are crucial because one is God’s answer to the Jews, the other His answer to the Gentiles. The Jews elevate God’s visible works (i.e., miracles) to the throne of God. They identify God by His actions, while relegating His Person to the back burner.

God’s response to this is to show Himself visibly in the Person of Jesus Christ. The Jews pushed God’s works to the front. In response God pushed His Person to the front. Jesus is “the power of God”.

The Gentiles elevate man’s intelligence to the throne of God. They eat at the kogae tree and draw conclusions based on what seems right in their own eyes. Their conclusions are formed from their reasoning and their experiences.

God’s response to this is to explain deity and eternity through the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus went about preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching man the wisdom of God. The culmination of God’s wisdom came at the cross of Christ and the empty tomb. The Gentiles pushed man’s intelligence to the front. God countered by pushing His intelligence to the front. Jesus is “the wisdom of God”.

Let me be quite frank and pointed, dear friends. If you were born of Jewish parents, then you are a Jew. If you were born of non-Jewish parents, then you are a Gentile. But none of this is relevant to God because we aren’t responsible for who our parents are!

We are responsible, however, for how we respond to God. He holds out His hand and offers us a pardon, paid for by the blood of Jesus on the cross. If we receive it, then we are born again. If we reject it, then we are only born once. We indeed are responsible for that decision!

So step up to the cross and receive your pardon. Don’t just be born. Be born again. Give glory to God and confess your sins to Jesus.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...

Foolish Sages and Wimpy Brutes – Part 2

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God [1 Corinthians 1:22-24].

We defined Jews and Gentiles and noted their peculiarities as God sees it. There is one final detail to hammer out with regard to the Gentiles. Permit me to explain it.

In the quoted text both the Greeks and the Gentiles are referenced. Whereas the Greeks are part of the other peoples of the world apart from the Jews, this makes the Greeks to be a people group of the Gentiles. So why did God single out the Greeks in these verses?

The answer isn’t difficult to cull from the text. Consider the distinguishing characteristic of the Gentiles which Paul referenced in 1 Corinthians: they “search for wisdom”. Anyone who has an inkling of the ancient world, or even of philosophy in general, knows the Greeks invented philosophy.

The word “philosophy” comes from two Greek words, “philos” (love) and “sophos” (wisdom). The word “philosophy” means “the love of wisdom”. In the ancient world the Greeks symbolized the love of wisdom, and they still do today. They were noted for loving wisdom because they incessantly “searched for wisdom”.

This was why Paul singled out the Greeks as representative of the Gentiles. He contrasted the non-Christian peoples with the Christians. The non-Christians are comprised of both Jews and Gentiles. What was the difference between non-Christian Jews and non-Christian Gentiles? This difference was the distinguishing detail Paul noted in the quoted verses.

The Jews demanded to see signs, to see miracles, whenever someone claimed to be sent by God. The Greeks attempted to know the truth about God through the medium of man’s own understanding (aka wisdom). Though the Greeks were the most outstanding example of this, all the world’s peoples imagined God to be the way they thought He should be. Ergo, the Greeks the quintessential Gentiles.

After distinguishing the two classes of non-Christians in the world, Paul then gave the definition of a Christian to distinguish them from the non-Christians. A Christian “preaches Christ crucified”. Isn’t that interesting? Yes, it is. But what does it mean?

Jesus expressed it best—considering the context of the quote from 1 Corinthians—when He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” The Jews as a people still attempt to approach God through the Law of Moses. The Gentiles still attempt to approach God by following their own reasonings (aka wisdom or philosophy). Only the Christians approach God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus died on the cross (i.e., was crucified), in order to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind. Each person individually—whether Jew or Gentile it matters not—but each individual must come to Jesus by recognizing his sin. Sin separates man from God, so the sinner cannot approach God. To approach God sin must first be removed.

Jesus’ death on the cross gave man a way to have his sin removed. By going to Jesus and confessing my sins, I receive Jesus’ payment for the penalty of my sins. Once I do that I am justified by faith in Christ Jesus.

The word “justified” means the eternal Judge in heaven hammers the gavel on his Judge’s bench and roars His verdict, “Not guilty!” Thenceforth God no longer sees me the sinner. He now sees me “in Christ”. Christ is without sin, so I am too. By His crucifixion Christ made it possible for my sins to be removed. By His resurrection He made it possible for His life, the new resurrection life, to live in me.

This is what it means to be a Christian. In our next study we will descant on this issue more thoroughly.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...

Foolish Sages and Wimpy Brutes – Part 1

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God [1 Corinthians 1:22-24].

I recall this phrase that has made the rounds for generations now. It goes something like this:

There are all kinds of people in the world.

In some sense this may well be true. According to the three verses quoted above, God only recognizes three kinds of people. Let’s itemize them for ready reference:

1. Jews
2. Gentiles (Greeks)
3. the called of God

Each of these three types of people is identified by a distinguishing characteristic. We will also itemize the three characteristics, listing each one accoriding to the order of the three types of people above:

1. ask for signs
2. search for wisdom
3. preach Christ crucified

There is one more detail given in the quoted text we mustn’t leave out. The called of God preach Christ crucified. The additional detail we mentioned is this: the preaching of Christ crucified receives three different responses, depending on which of the three types of people we belong to. Let’s itemize these three responses. We will do so according to the order of the three types of people given above:

1. a stumbling block
2. foolishness
3. the power and wisdom of God

That about does it. I believe we’ve exhausted the details of the three verses quoted at the start of this study. Now let’s get to work assaying the details.

The Jews were one type or classification of people in the world. A Jew (aka a Hebrew or Semite) is any person whose lineage traces back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I list all three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for a reason. Abraham had many sons besides Isaac, but only Isaac carried on the Abrahamic Covenant. God made that determination.

Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. God classified Esau as a profane and godless man who despised the Abrahamic Covenant. Esau loved the world and the things of the world. He had neither time nor love for the things of God. By God’s sovereign choice only Jacob carried on the Abrahamic Covenant. God renamed Jacob to Israel.

Jacob/Israel had twelve sons. Each of these twelve sons grew into a tribe of Israel and became the Israelites. God sovereignly chose to continue the Abrahamic Covenant through the Israelites. God also sovereignly determined to bring the Messiah into the world through the lineage of the Israelites, specifically through the lineage of the tribe of Judah and the family of David.

The Lord gave the Israelites the Promised Land and the Law of Moses (aka Torah). The Law of Moses served as the legal code of the Israelites while they lived in the Promised Land. This distinguished the Israelites (aka Jews) from the Gentiles (i.e., everyone not a Jew).

The Israelites had a covenantal relationship with the Lord: all the other peoples of the world had no relationship with the Lord. This was God’s sovereign decision. The Israelites had the Lord as their King: all the other peoples of the world had an earthly king of their own making. The Israelites had the Law of Moses, God’s Word in the world back in the day: all the other peoples of the world had their own imaginations and inventions to govern them.

The last several paragraphs distinguished the Jews from the Gentiles (i.e., all the other peoples of the world aside from the Jews). So we’ve also defined the Gentiles and noted their peculiarities as God sees it. There is one final detail to hammer out with regard to the Gentiles. I will explain it in the next study.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...