1SAMUEL 9-10:
In yesterday's reading, Samuel was formally made a judge, and then he led the people of Israel into victory over the Philistines. But when Samuel was old and after the appointment of his two sons as judges in his place, his sons perverted justice for bribes. So the people asked to have a king. God had already long ago said this would happen, in fact, this idea was in Hannah’s prayer. Samuel was displeased, not for the sake of his sons, but because the people were rejecting God as their king.
PSALM 95:
This is a gem among the psalms. Note the exuberance of worship in this psalm! And this is balanced by reverence to God. The last half of this psalm is quoted in full in Hebrews and is an important topic in that New Testament book.
We turn for the second time to ROMANS 3.
In Romans chapter 3 Paul refutes important misunderstanding and wrong teaching in the process of resoundingly proving that Jews cannot save themselves by their own power by means of fulfilling the Law. (In his use of the term ‘the Law’, Paul was following the custom of including other Old Testament books.) In the verses he quoted, he made it very that not even one person can claim to be righteous in God's sight. So God has provided another way to become right in His sight, which is actually foretold in the Law and Biblical prophetic writings.
Translation note:
22 [NLT We are made right with God by [(fully) believing//placing our _faith_] in Jesus Christ. [0//And] this is true for [all//everyone] who _believes_[in Christ], no matter who we are.//GNT God puts people right through their _faith_ in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who _believe_ in Christ, because there is no difference at all:
23 [because] everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence.
[Here is an excellent example of the point I keep harping on. Note that using the verb form ‘believe’ instead of the abstract noun form makes it clear that the same word is used later in the verse. Cohesion of ideas makes better understanding. Secondly, it is easier for people to ‘do’ a verb than it is to ‘do’ an abstract noun. It is easier to ‘practice’ something than it is to ‘make a practice of’ something. It is easier to ‘eat’ apples than it is to ‘practice the consumption of’ apples.
Sometime during this last year, the pastor of our church gave a sermon where one of his main points is that ‘faith’ has an object. And that object he gave is of course that we place our faith in Christ as explained in the Gospel. Note that this major part of his teaching would be unnecessary if we simply start substituting the word ‘believe’ (including ‘belief’/’believing’). One automatically expects to find an object for believing in the context. If you say to someone, “Have faith,” they might say, “How do I do that?” Note that ‘faith’ is not perceived as a volitional act. But ‘believe’ is. To believe is a choice we can make. And that is exactly what Paul is pushing for here.]
[The same change was made in reading verses 25-26.]
30 God is one, and he will put the Jews right with himself on the basis of their [believing//faith], and [he] will put the Gentiles right through their [believing//faith]. 31Does this mean that by this [believing//faith] we do away with the Law? No, not at all; instead, we uphold the Law.
No comments:
Post a Comment