Goodness, this is where good and goodness and all the words that have to do with AGATHOS come from. It displays not a human goodness, but a Spiritual Godly goodness.
And then here is something that can be pointed out if you so choose. Notice what the King James has. It has the word faith. The more modern translations have changed this to faithfulness, an adjective. But it's not an adjective. It is still the same noun that has been in all the manuscripts. All the manuscripts read the same. The King James has it correct. It seems as thought they couldn't come to grips and justify that God's Spirit produces faith, so they changed it to faithfulness. But it's faith!
And then you get to Galatians 5:23, and you see the word meekness. There is an old saying that goes, "Meekness does not mean weakness." It means openness or receptivity. It's one of the words that Paul used for those in ministry. It's also translated gentleness. But it means to be open. The person who's giving the word and ministering the things of Christ, that person must be more open and receptive than any other person. They can't close themselves off like they have arrived and everybody else hasn't. They have to be open.
And then temperance means self-control, or more literally the control of self. This is not self-control like trying to enforce discipline in our eating, as in "I've got to exhibit more self-control when I eat." This word means to be controlled from within, to be controlled by the Spirit of God.
And then he says against such there is no law. And again, he's saying that this is the fruit of God's Spirit. There is no law against these.
I know this is not a whole lot, but perhaps this might be of some help as you get ready to present your own sermon.
If I were given the opportunity in church to speak on Galatians 5:22-23, this is probably how I would present it:
I would break down each fruit listed; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, and present.
Beginning with Galatians 5:22, it says, But the fruit of the Spirit is, and then I would draw the attention of those whom I am presenting this to the fact that the word fruit is singular. People have tried to fit all this into a singular fruit. Most of the time people say love is the fruit that all the others are based on, so it's singular.
But it's actually more inclusive than that! All of these items are elements of the same and the one fruit. You cannot separate love from faith, and joy from faith, and joy from love because it's from the same Spirit. There's only one Spirit and this is Him.
And then you can break down the elements listed:
The first element of the one fruit is love, AGAPE. God's Spirit produces love. You and I cannot produce AGAPE love.
Joy, and that's not the dishwashing soap (If you want to add humor)! It's the Greek word for satisfaction. Be satisfied with the Lord at all times, and again I will say be satisfied. It doesn't mean a happy feeling. It means to be satisfied.
And then peace. The word peace, EIRENE, means unity.
Longsuffering means to be slow in human reaction. In God's standpoint, I can tolerate and be slow in my human reaction because that is a characteristic of God's Spirit, not me.
Gentleness, which is literally the word kindness, and it has to do with being useful. It is Spiritual usefulness. The bible says that if you don't know Christ, you are not spiritually useful at all!
Hiya Don GBU....But all the bibles in this world cd not redeem not even 1 man back to God....Don at Calvary, God made a new covenant with the blood of Jesus that Lamb of God....But God didn't use not 1 written word....That New COVENANT cd only be dedicated with the Blood of HIS lamb...Christ Jesus...the living Word made flesh and blood...All the bibles in this world can not help with this horrible demonic sin nature of murder and war etc.....Satan is still the god of this present World....I love the bible been reading the bible the KJV sinse i was 4.5 yrs old....But it has to be the living word....The written word is like a faraway lover...But the living WORD is the bridegroom himself and there is no other...We cannot bear fruit with a far away lover....WE can only be married to Christ the living word and bring forth fruit unto God.... Romans 7:4 kjv....I'M not saying the KJV has no value...The KJV can only be a friend of the bridegroom....Neva the bridegroom....We can only be married to Christ Jesus....Not paper and ink...And that fruit unto God is the H.G. THE MANCHILD that is gonna rule all nations...Thats y he has to know us..
......2 nd Cor. 3:6 - 9....Who has made us able ministers of the New Covenant...The New testament in his Blood....Not of the letter the written word for the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth us life....
Remember Moses had to wear a veil over his face b/c it was so glorious b/c of the law was the written word that had to be done away with Just think what its going to be like WHEN THAT BOOK IS OPENED....We are all gona have a Baby Christ....the H.G. that Child of PROMISE....GBU
Hiya Don GBU But we have to remember that Israel was Sola Scriptura....Caring more about the written word then the Holy Spirit THE CONTENTS OF THEIR HEARTS WAS NOT IMPORTANT....Israel stoned almost every Prophet that God sent them and Rejected the Christ...Thats the result of written words of God without the H.G....As 2 Cor. 3:6 tells us..
.....He has made us able ministers of the NEW Testament....The LIVING WORDS OF GOD....Not of the letter that killeth but of the Spirit that giveth Life.....Its The Living words of God that are the good seeds that initiate THAT NEW BIRTH of Christ in us...Not the written words....If the written words cd have brought us salvation then the living Word Christ Jesus shed his blood in vain and the Cross was just foolishness.
.....Mary was not impregnated by written words...But by the living of Word God Almighty made flesh and blood....Search the scriptures ( the written words ) in them you think you have eternal life but it is them that testify of me...The HG. THE LIVING WORD...Jesus said my words are spirit and life and Peter says where shall we go lord thou has the words of eternal.Life...But There is no eternal life in paper and ink....Eternal life is only in his WORDS....As Peter says Which are spirit and life....Gbu Don
The blessing of having Jesus as our brother and being one with him. Hebrews 2:11,12 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
You are so right Chris. I only hope that a great many Catholics will be saved after the Rapture of the true Body of Christ to Heaven. They will see - hopefully, once and for all - that they have been deceived by the Roman religion and will finally cling to Christ alone for their salvation. May the good Lord open their eyes, as He did for me, that they will flee from the bondage of the papal system and put their complete trust in the King of kings and the Lord of lords and His free gospel of grace.
"Bowl Judgements" or The Plagues of Exodus ? the answer here is yes to both, but much of what is written won't come into spiritual fulfillment until that time of 666 when the anti-christ appears on the scene first
All five trumpets are sounding, their bowls/vials are being poured out but won't come into spiritual completion until 666.
The first plague of Exodus began IMO at the releasing of the corona virus which is a warning to us as was to Egypt.
The 2nd plague coming will be another warning from God, but the 3rd will not be. Luke!
Dear Kingdom of Heaven. U have right, and the translator takes liberties. In my translation it says Love. And For many years I thought that love should be cold in most people. And tried to look at it more closely, love.
We can have nothing unless the Lord gives it to us, then everything must come according to His will. Therefore another key thing is He loved us first so that we can love sincerely, honestly, He righteously back. We can give Overmoistening love becouse Lord Jesus loved us first. Stay strong in the word of God.
The people were deeply dismayed that YHWH was not going to "tabernacle" among them on this journey. They may have thought that the God who delivered them from slavery in Egypt would be "afar off" now because of their idolatry. How little they understood of YHWH at this time. The Angel would be YHWH's Representative among the people, the Mediator between His sinful people and Himself. Here we may have a statement concerning the role of the Son of God, pre-incarnate. He is eternally the Mediator between God and Man. Otherwise, there would be no interactions between the Father and humanity other than judgment. But we do not know for sure if this Angel was, indeed, the Son of God.
The sinfulness of these people who had consecrated themselves to YHWH required a "go-between". Let us remind ourselves how serious sin is to God. We cannot approach Him without a Mediator, and that Mediator is only Jesus. YHWH stepped out of the people He had saved as an act of mercy and grace to prevent them being consumed by Him.
It says that the people mourned and did not put on their ornaments, as YHWH had instructed them to do, thus showing repentance. I do not know what these ornaments were; perhaps jewelry from the Egyptians. These ornaments would remind them of their sin of idolatry because the calf was made of such ornamentation. They stripped themselves of any such self-adornment. They instead took the dress of one who is penitent, remorseful, in mourning. There, at Mt. Sinai, otherwise known as Horeb, where the Decalogue was given, and the people were soon rebellious against it, they stripped themselves of what was valuable to them in the carnal way, and then turned from wearing them again. They did not put these ornaments back on.
We would be wise to do likewise. when we confess our sin to Jesus, we are to do so with repentance, with the intent of not returning to these sins, divesting ourselves of all that entangles us in sin, avoiding such snares.
All the ones you mentioned, Donna, are good commentaries and I would add, Benson and Barnes into your list as well. But as in all commentaries, they only give a person's understanding of the Scriptures, albeit by very studied men, so as helpful as they might be, our only resort should be to the Holy Scriptures & for the Spirit's enlightening. And as an aside, I've noticed that sometimes these commentators actually copy information from each other! Having a good Lexicon (Hebrew & Greek - available online) is also very useful to better understand where our English translations are coming from.
Hi Patrick. Sarah, in the Book of Genesis, was Abraham's wife. Actually, her name was Sarai (& Abraham was first known as Abram) & she was probably from the same region that Abram, his father Terah, & brothers Nahor & Haran, were from. This was a Gentile, pagan area, though we're not sure of the spiritual condition of these men at that time.
In Genesis 11:27 onwards, you can read of Sarai becoming Abram's wife, but she was infertile. And you can read their story from here on, but then in Genesis chapter 17, God establishes a covenant with Abram, that he would be a father of many nations, and that he would now be called, Abraham. As for Sarai, her name became Sarah, for she would be the mother of nations & kings of people would come from her (v16).
Hi Stacie. The questions you ask require much input, but I would firstly direct you to 1 Peter chapter 1 for your meditation. And especially verses 1 & 2, where the Apostle Peter writes to the believers in Asia Minor as to why God has caused them to be part of the Elect (or, chosen) of God.
They were not chosen randomly, some to be saved & others rejected, but chosen because of what God knew about them. God knew even before we were born, how our lives would pan out, our younger years, our careers, our struggles in life & even the day of our death. So they, & us, are the chosen of God because of His Foreknowledge (He is an Omniscient God): knowledge of how we will respond to Him & the Gospel. And Peter says that this foreknowledge of God involved the sinner being cleansed by Christ's shed Blood at Calvary & the sanctifying (setting apart) Work of the Holy Spirit. So knowing all this, there are certain people who have been ordained to receive God's Salvation & others who are not. And God also knew the ones who would not receive salvation because He knew they would reject the Gospel, or if they never heard it, they would still never accept Christ. The ones that God knows will belong to Him, will all come to Him - none will be rejected, as if to catch God by surprise. And Peter then gives these chosen ones the assurance in verses 4 & 5: those who are Christ's, have an incorruptible inheritance reserved in Heaven & while we're still on Earth, we will be kept secure in our salvation by "the power of God through faith" when salvation's full work is completed "in the last time (the day when we see Jesus & be with Him forever)".
So, those who are truly God's children (born again by His Spirit), will lead careful holy lives (see the rest of that chapter on this) - we can't, nay, can never fool around with God by leading double lives. It only proves we never belonged to God. Many believe in God, even as the devils do & tremble ( James 2:19), but that belief won't save them.
Hi Marsha. There are many verses that speak of, or allude, to the Triunity of God, i.e. God manifesting Himself to us in three Persons. But if you're looking for a single verse, then 1 John 5:7 fits the bill: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." Of course, the Word given here is Jesus, Who is the Word of God made flesh for the suffering of death ( John 1:1-14; Revelation 19:11-13).
Thank you brother Jesse for those further thoughts on this important doctrine of God's Grace showered upon sinful man, through Jesus His Son.
True biblical Christianity stands well apart from any religion, even so-called Christian sects & cults, that require their adherents to attain some standard of good works or level of sanctification, to be acceptable to God. None can ever hope to reach the high standards that God would require - and God knowing this, stepped into this World, offering up Himself as the only payment & hope of mankind. How we would grieve the Spirit of God, if we should even contemplate adding our own efforts to secure that salvation that was well beyond our reach. And yet, when the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in the believer, not only our security in salvation is assured, but our lives & our works will be done and seen in demonstration of the Spirit's Power. That the Glory of God might be seen in His unfathomable Plan to save us and His great Power & Love exuding from His children. May we be circumspect in our daily walk, giving no cause to the unsaved around us to despise our Gracious Lord. Every blessing to you & brother Henry for your contributions; as you can see, I'm very passionate with this subject.
Amen Steve. Roman Catholicism has sufficiently perverted the Truth & ensnared it's adherents for too long leaving most incapable, even unwilling, to break free.
That the papacy in recent times permitted the laity to read the Scriptures for themselves, when only the clerics were once empowered to read & give understanding to it, was an important event to the freeing of many. No doubt many are now hearing from God's Word as 'thus saith the Lord ' and not, 'thus saith the Church '. That Christ is sacrificed at every Mass would rank very high on the list of RC abominations. But God is able to set many free as they consider the true state of their souls.
Perhaps the text should read love instead of charity. However, I think that charity is in reality, love in action.
What the land would produce when worked. There are more figures of speech
Used in the bible than any other book. Other examples the hand of God, the
Ground is thirsty, He maketh our steps like a hinds feet or mountain goats
Sure footed steps in our walk with God. God used these with absolute perfection
And precision and they hold tremendous truths when worked.
19:13-20 is very spiritually eye opening.
Goodness, this is where good and goodness and all the words that have to do with AGATHOS come from. It displays not a human goodness, but a Spiritual Godly goodness.
And then here is something that can be pointed out if you so choose. Notice what the King James has. It has the word faith. The more modern translations have changed this to faithfulness, an adjective. But it's not an adjective. It is still the same noun that has been in all the manuscripts. All the manuscripts read the same. The King James has it correct. It seems as thought they couldn't come to grips and justify that God's Spirit produces faith, so they changed it to faithfulness. But it's faith!
And then you get to Galatians 5:23, and you see the word meekness. There is an old saying that goes, "Meekness does not mean weakness." It means openness or receptivity. It's one of the words that Paul used for those in ministry. It's also translated gentleness. But it means to be open. The person who's giving the word and ministering the things of Christ, that person must be more open and receptive than any other person. They can't close themselves off like they have arrived and everybody else hasn't. They have to be open.
And then temperance means self-control, or more literally the control of self. This is not self-control like trying to enforce discipline in our eating, as in "I've got to exhibit more self-control when I eat." This word means to be controlled from within, to be controlled by the Spirit of God.
And then he says against such there is no law. And again, he's saying that this is the fruit of God's Spirit. There is no law against these.
I know this is not a whole lot, but perhaps this might be of some help as you get ready to present your own sermon.
Caleb,
If I were given the opportunity in church to speak on Galatians 5:22-23, this is probably how I would present it:
I would break down each fruit listed; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, and present.
Beginning with Galatians 5:22, it says, But the fruit of the Spirit is, and then I would draw the attention of those whom I am presenting this to the fact that the word fruit is singular. People have tried to fit all this into a singular fruit. Most of the time people say love is the fruit that all the others are based on, so it's singular.
But it's actually more inclusive than that! All of these items are elements of the same and the one fruit. You cannot separate love from faith, and joy from faith, and joy from love because it's from the same Spirit. There's only one Spirit and this is Him.
And then you can break down the elements listed:
The first element of the one fruit is love, AGAPE. God's Spirit produces love. You and I cannot produce AGAPE love.
Joy, and that's not the dishwashing soap (If you want to add humor)! It's the Greek word for satisfaction. Be satisfied with the Lord at all times, and again I will say be satisfied. It doesn't mean a happy feeling. It means to be satisfied.
And then peace. The word peace, EIRENE, means unity.
Longsuffering means to be slow in human reaction. In God's standpoint, I can tolerate and be slow in my human reaction because that is a characteristic of God's Spirit, not me.
Gentleness, which is literally the word kindness, and it has to do with being useful. It is Spiritual usefulness. The bible says that if you don't know Christ, you are not spiritually useful at all!
I will send Part 2 shortly.
Being manipulated. You never just toy with the enemy or play around because
That's how he plays getting you to think this little thing is harmless like the cute
Quija board which is not cute or harmless. He walks around seeking whom He
May devour and many many Christian's don't think he's that manipulative or evil.
The secrecy of the enemy is the secrecy of His Moves and only the Spiritual Light
Of God's Word blows His Cover. We truly do not fight against flesh and blood!
God Bless
Writings were handed to Jesus and he found the place where it was written.
What makes that incredible is the original scrolls had no chapters no headings
They were just running hand continuous and He found the place where it was
Written concerning His Ministry. The scrolls in the temple and the synagogues
We're His main source also what God showed Him by the spirit.
Being manipulated. You never just toy with the enemy or play around because
That's how he plays getting you to think this little thing is harmless like the cute
Quija board which is not cute or harmless. He walks around seeking whom He
May devour and many many Christian's don't think he's that manipulative or evil.
The secrecy of the enemy is the secrecy of His Moves and only the Spiritual Light
Of God's Word blows His Cover. We truly do not fight against flesh and blood!
God Bless
......2 nd Cor. 3:6 - 9....Who has made us able ministers of the New Covenant...The New testament in his Blood....Not of the letter the written word for the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth us life....
Remember Moses had to wear a veil over his face b/c it was so glorious b/c of the law was the written word that had to be done away with Just think what its going to be like WHEN THAT BOOK IS OPENED....We are all gona have a Baby Christ....the H.G. that Child of PROMISE....GBU
I do not seek my own understanding of Him, but rely only on His word!
Confronted daily with a slowly dissolving world, an unbelieving world, one may come to understand of what The madness of the prophet is!
Balaam is one of many in a kingdom of corruption. A kingdom of man, a kingdom of hate, greed, deniers of the truth!
Those who choose to fight against Him ,will find out the "Madness of the Prophet "is and what this means!
You cannot serve two masters.
You will love one, and hate the other! You cannot serve God and Mammon!
'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
How precious His promises to those who Love Him! Seek Him while He may be found!
Repent and be Baptized
.....He has made us able ministers of the NEW Testament....The LIVING WORDS OF GOD....Not of the letter that killeth but of the Spirit that giveth Life.....Its The Living words of God that are the good seeds that initiate THAT NEW BIRTH of Christ in us...Not the written words....If the written words cd have brought us salvation then the living Word Christ Jesus shed his blood in vain and the Cross was just foolishness.
.....Mary was not impregnated by written words...But by the living of Word God Almighty made flesh and blood....Search the scriptures ( the written words ) in them you think you have eternal life but it is them that testify of me...The HG. THE LIVING WORD...Jesus said my words are spirit and life and Peter says where shall we go lord thou has the words of eternal.Life...But There is no eternal life in paper and ink....Eternal life is only in his WORDS....As Peter says Which are spirit and life....Gbu Don
All five trumpets are sounding, their bowls/vials are being poured out but won't come into spiritual completion until 666.
The first plague of Exodus began IMO at the releasing of the corona virus which is a warning to us as was to Egypt.
The 2nd plague coming will be another warning from God, but the 3rd will not be. Luke!
We can have nothing unless the Lord gives it to us, then everything must come according to His will. Therefore another key thing is He loved us first so that we can love sincerely, honestly, He righteously back. We can give Overmoistening love becouse Lord Jesus loved us first. Stay strong in the word of God.
Jesus loves u, i in Christ. Acts 19
There are many things said about wrath, Judgement, GOD's Judgement,
I focus on James 4:14, Romans 14:12, Matthew 25:31-46,
additional scripture to think on, Psalms 37, Romans 8,
Mark 13, Matthew 24, 2Thessalonians 2:2,3, 2Thessalonians 2,
Sometimes there's judgement of GOD of individuals, 2Samuel 12:7-16, of Nations, Malachi 3:5,
Nahum 1:3, Psalms 107, 2Chronicles 7:13,14,
James 1:5,
Hopefully these are helpful
I wondered about that also. But God seems to have blesses their union although she was not of the tribe of Israel.
GOD's hand is on all who follows HIS Word.
May the LORD bless all on this forum.
Praying for our nations leaders, may they seek the wisdom of GOD as Joseph did.
Thanks that one will do for me .
Maybe the scriptures?
The people were deeply dismayed that YHWH was not going to "tabernacle" among them on this journey. They may have thought that the God who delivered them from slavery in Egypt would be "afar off" now because of their idolatry. How little they understood of YHWH at this time. The Angel would be YHWH's Representative among the people, the Mediator between His sinful people and Himself. Here we may have a statement concerning the role of the Son of God, pre-incarnate. He is eternally the Mediator between God and Man. Otherwise, there would be no interactions between the Father and humanity other than judgment. But we do not know for sure if this Angel was, indeed, the Son of God.
The sinfulness of these people who had consecrated themselves to YHWH required a "go-between". Let us remind ourselves how serious sin is to God. We cannot approach Him without a Mediator, and that Mediator is only Jesus. YHWH stepped out of the people He had saved as an act of mercy and grace to prevent them being consumed by Him.
It says that the people mourned and did not put on their ornaments, as YHWH had instructed them to do, thus showing repentance. I do not know what these ornaments were; perhaps jewelry from the Egyptians. These ornaments would remind them of their sin of idolatry because the calf was made of such ornamentation. They stripped themselves of any such self-adornment. They instead took the dress of one who is penitent, remorseful, in mourning. There, at Mt. Sinai, otherwise known as Horeb, where the Decalogue was given, and the people were soon rebellious against it, they stripped themselves of what was valuable to them in the carnal way, and then turned from wearing them again. They did not put these ornaments back on.
We would be wise to do likewise. when we confess our sin to Jesus, we are to do so with repentance, with the intent of not returning to these sins, divesting ourselves of all that entangles us in sin, avoiding such snares.
In Genesis 11:27 onwards, you can read of Sarai becoming Abram's wife, but she was infertile. And you can read their story from here on, but then in Genesis chapter 17, God establishes a covenant with Abram, that he would be a father of many nations, and that he would now be called, Abraham. As for Sarai, her name became Sarah, for she would be the mother of nations & kings of people would come from her (v16).
They were not chosen randomly, some to be saved & others rejected, but chosen because of what God knew about them. God knew even before we were born, how our lives would pan out, our younger years, our careers, our struggles in life & even the day of our death. So they, & us, are the chosen of God because of His Foreknowledge (He is an Omniscient God): knowledge of how we will respond to Him & the Gospel. And Peter says that this foreknowledge of God involved the sinner being cleansed by Christ's shed Blood at Calvary & the sanctifying (setting apart) Work of the Holy Spirit. So knowing all this, there are certain people who have been ordained to receive God's Salvation & others who are not. And God also knew the ones who would not receive salvation because He knew they would reject the Gospel, or if they never heard it, they would still never accept Christ. The ones that God knows will belong to Him, will all come to Him - none will be rejected, as if to catch God by surprise. And Peter then gives these chosen ones the assurance in verses 4 & 5: those who are Christ's, have an incorruptible inheritance reserved in Heaven & while we're still on Earth, we will be kept secure in our salvation by "the power of God through faith" when salvation's full work is completed "in the last time (the day when we see Jesus & be with Him forever)".
So, those who are truly God's children (born again by His Spirit), will lead careful holy lives (see the rest of that chapter on this) - we can't, nay, can never fool around with God by leading double lives. It only proves we never belonged to God. Many believe in God, even as the devils do & tremble ( James 2:19), but that belief won't save them.
How can I put this in a Sirmon
True biblical Christianity stands well apart from any religion, even so-called Christian sects & cults, that require their adherents to attain some standard of good works or level of sanctification, to be acceptable to God. None can ever hope to reach the high standards that God would require - and God knowing this, stepped into this World, offering up Himself as the only payment & hope of mankind. How we would grieve the Spirit of God, if we should even contemplate adding our own efforts to secure that salvation that was well beyond our reach. And yet, when the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in the believer, not only our security in salvation is assured, but our lives & our works will be done and seen in demonstration of the Spirit's Power. That the Glory of God might be seen in His unfathomable Plan to save us and His great Power & Love exuding from His children. May we be circumspect in our daily walk, giving no cause to the unsaved around us to despise our Gracious Lord. Every blessing to you & brother Henry for your contributions; as you can see, I'm very passionate with this subject.
That the papacy in recent times permitted the laity to read the Scriptures for themselves, when only the clerics were once empowered to read & give understanding to it, was an important event to the freeing of many. No doubt many are now hearing from God's Word as 'thus saith the Lord ' and not, 'thus saith the Church '. That Christ is sacrificed at every Mass would rank very high on the list of RC abominations. But God is able to set many free as they consider the true state of their souls.