929. The Two Greatest Commands from an Obsolete Law (There Is a Better Way)

A legal eagle from the Pharisee Bible College desired to test Jesus by asking him what the greatest commandment was from the law. Jesus gave him two ... love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength—and love your neighbor as yourself. The fact is ... nobody has ever lived up to these commands—of which the entire law and the prophets would hang. Jesus was answering a law-based question with a law-based answer. After all, this was before the cross and the law was still in place for these Jewish people.

Church corporations and others have emphasized the "two greatest commandments from the law" as a foundation for Christianity, but these were demands from a law that is now to be considered obsolete—a law Jesus came to deliver and redeem the Jewish people from so they could receive life. Religion leans towards putting the cart before the horse—probably because it's more work. Let's get this turned around in the right direction. The New Covenant is not based on how much you love God, but how much he loves you. This results in returning that same kind of love to Him from the heart instead of being "commanded" to do so as a soldier taking orders (which isn't really love). If a believer in Christ is having trouble walking in love towards others, it's likely because they have not yet understood or believed in the perfect love God has for them.



   
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928. It's Not an Apology, but We Have a Confession

On a number of occasions, the Bible refers to "holding fast to our confession." Notice the confession is singular, not plural. Some might think this has something to do with continuous confessions of sins. But we know our sins were forgiven, taken away, no longer counted against us, and remembered no more by God. The Apostle Paul never once suggested confessing sins to receive a renewed forgiveness from God.

So what were the writers really talking about along these lines after Jesus would have established the New Covenant? Let's take a closer look at why some were encouraged to hold firmly to a good confession of hope ... a confession of Jesus Christ and the gospel.

We take a closer look at not "what" the writer was referencing ... but "who" they were highlighting in this passage and throughout the letter.



   
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927. The Word of God Is Alive (His Name Is Jesus)

The problem with taking lengthy passages of scripture and chopping them into individual Bible verses is the frequent attempt to interpret the meaning of each verse. Context gets missed, which can have a domino effect on other interpretations regarding the writings. We give an example from Hebrews 4:12, which states the word of God is living and powerful. Many of us were taught this is a reference to "the Bible." Keep in mind, these people who were receiving this message would have had no idea what a Bible was ... and most of their knowledge about the law and the prophets came from hearing it in the synagogues or other sources not associated with their bookshelf.

We take a closer look at not "what" the writer was referencing ... but "who" they were highlighting in this passage and throughout the letter.



   
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926. Spiritual Truth Is Revealed by the Spirit of God

Many of us search the scriptures for truth. On our humble podcast, we've talked for years about these writings and how much they mean to us—we value and embrace them with what can be discovered as we grow in our understanding of the good news of Jesus. But ultimately, gaining more insight or expertise about the Bible will not allow for us to grow to the fullest in the knowledge of the truth. Truth is contained within a person (Jesus Christ), and all truth is ultimately revealed by the Spirit of God—the One sent to guide people into all truth as our comforter and teacher. The absolute true things of God cannot be received intellectually or by human wisdom.

With so many voices (and Bible teachers) out there who are saying so many different things ... our conversation this week is an exhortation not to jump to the wrong conclusion in assuming the Bible somehow replaced God's living Spirit who abides in us ... with an anointing that teaches us in a way that is only spiritually discerned.



   
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925. Christians Never Disagree About the Bible (Just Kidding) - A Holy Spirit Solution

We call it The Bible. A collection of writings that have resulted in millions of never-ending interpretations, opinions, doctrines and debates. There are thousands of Christian church denominations that have very, very different viewpoints on what should be considered foundational aspects of the faith. And yet, they all claim the Bible is their foundation for what they believe. Weird, right?

People begin to wonder what is true and what is not when it comes to understanding a Bible verse or passage ... or ideologies about the writings. They begin looking for someone or something to which they can subscribe and believe. Should the main focus be placed on proper interpretation of the Bible books ... or will this outcome just result in frustration and uncertainty?

The pages themselves tell us where to look and who we can trust. It doesn't come from an outside or external source that we can see, hear, and touch, but from within.



   
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924. God's Grace Working Through Us Vs. Religious Rules

We like to tell people salvation is free, but then somewhere along the way—maybe right away—we feel the need to begin rolling out the rules to help make sure the new converts don't wander from what we believe to be the truth. This approach may actually hinder believers in Christ from experiencing the fullness of God in their lives.

It becomes a gospel of "doing" in order to become something that children of God think they need to work at in order to reach a higher level of spirituality or to make themselves more acceptable to God. Not to mention, the "rules" vary significantly from one corner church to the next. Maybe we should begin to trust Christ (who abides in us) to complete the work He began in each of us by His grace.



   
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923. "A Different Gospel" (Mixture of Law and Grace) Distorts the Gospel of Christ

When Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians, he was astonished at how quickly they had been turned by others who invaded their turf after he had been there ... and these seemed to want to distort the gospel of Christ. These Gentiles had previously been given the pure message of the grace of Jesus, but were now being told they needed to mix some aspects of the Mosaic law with faith in Christ.

Paul referred to it as a different gospel (although it was really no gospel at all). He had some strong words against those delivering this contrary message and it launched the rest of his "Galatians" letter, where he would expound on the differences between a ministry of bondage under works, compared to a New Covenant of Faith.



   
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