We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God."
In this lesson, Paul calls upon all Christianity to simply obey the two "great" commandments.
He calls us to love God above all else and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We are to lift up the least and weakest among us, and to feed those that hunger, both physically and spiritually.
Also in this lesson, Paul said, "whatsoever things were written aforetime (The Old Testament, for the most part.) were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope". In modern terms, that means that the commandments that were given to the Jews, prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, were not there to be a set of rules and a guide as to how mankind could achieve total righteousness to the point of eternal salvation, but rather they are a lesson intended to educate mankind to the fact that God has, from the beginning, had our eternal interests foremost in His mind. The Old Testament and the history of the Jews act as a "schoolmaster" that teaches us God's plan and, at the coming of Jesus Christ, exposes the outcome of that plan by exposing mankind to His plan of eternal salvation by His Grace through faith in the blood of Christ.~
No comments:
Post a Comment