My little children,
for whom I labor
in birth again until
Christ is formed in you.
I would like to be
present with you now
and to change my
tone;
for I have doubts
about you.
Galatians 4:19 -- 20
When you
read those words of Paul you can feel the pain in his heart for the Galatians who were
slipping away into error after learning the truth. The writer of Hebrews wrote these very serious words; "For if we sin willfully after we
received the knowledge of the truth, they're no longer remains a sacrifice for
sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation
which will devour the adversaries" (Hebrews 10: 26 -- 27). This is not the first and only verse: "Now where there is remission of these,
there is no longer an offering for sin" (Hebrews 10: 18). Peter expounded on this fact: "For if, after they have escaped the
pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter in his worst
for them than the beginning. For it
would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,
then having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them"
(2 Peter 2:20 -- 21). As with the
Galatian churches and other churches, as we read and have read in regard to
those letters by the apostles and others, that they had turned into another
form of gospel and Paul certainly is presenting his sadness over this
fact. The Galatian churches seem to be
ready to call the apostle Paul their enemy, but he assures them that he was
their friend, and had the feeling of a parent toward them. Paul even calls them his children, noting a
great tenderness and affection for them, and even in their present behavior who
had turned by the arts and insinuations of others to another gospel, Paul
expresses earnest desire for their welfare and for their soul’s
prosperity. How many people today have
turned to the arts and insinuations of those men and women who seem to speak so
eloquently intimating that they have some sort of special revealed truth. This so-called truth that came to them and
either some sort of vision or dream, but all they need is the scripture for
everything that we need is revealed in the Bible. Many people fall after such men and women, honest women and men,
looking for the truth, only to become ensnarled in falsehood. Paul was desirous that Jesus Christ would be
formed in them, and this is my desire for myself and for you that you would
change from the inside/out and return to Authentic Christianity and shun these
false teachings that are so prevalent, and leading honest people away from the
truth. Paul's prayer, and mine, is that
you become more established in the faith of the Gospel and not fall prey to the
many false teachers in the world today.
A faithful minister is one who is earnest, and earnestly longs for those
people who were under his care. These
ministers do not want to gain so much that they may have great affection for
them, no, that they may make a renewed life in the spirit of their minds, and
be brought into the image of Jesus Christ, more fully settled and confirmed in
the Christian life and faith. How
unreasonable it is for people to act and have to suffer themselves so that they
must be prevailed upon to return and even in the case where they have much
dislike for their ministers. This shows
that Christ is not fully formed in them, and until they are brought from
trusting in your own righteousness and may to rely only upon Jesus Christ and His
righteousness than you have not become formed into Jesus Christ as
commanded. The apostle Paul longed to
be with them so that he could bring forth change among them, and change from
his words a reproof to those of encouragement and commendation. These were words that could not be
adequately put down in a letter and had to be brought forth in person,
therefore, he desired to be with them.
Nothing is so sure a proof a sinner has passed into a state of
justification, as Christ form in them by the renewal of the Holy Spirit; but
this cannot be done for men who depend upon the law, or works, for the
acceptance with God. Paul adds: "Tell me, you who desire to be under
the law, do you not hear the law? For
it is written that Abraham had two sons: but won by a bondwoman, the other by a
freewoman. But he who was of the
bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through
promise, which things are symbolic. For
these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to
bonding, which is Hagar -- for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and
corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children --
but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians
4: 21 -- 26). Paul had just know it
cleared the difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and the
Judaizers who trusted in the law, and this he did by comparison from the
history of Isaac and Ishmael. Those who
desire to be under the law should then hear what the law has to say to them;
and this realization should teach them to flee from it to the grace of the
Gospel. The Jerusalem above, it is
free! No one any longer has to be in
bondage to those who would cause people to return to some sort of gospel that
the man's works as a sign of their righteousness. Who fall under the sway of these false teachings is to place a
person under bondage and they are no longer free but a slave, being tossed to
and fro by the whims and will of those who want to use them for their own
benefit. As the Christians were commanded:
flee Jerusalem for destruction is coming.
There is a new Jerusalem, and that Jerusalem is heavenly, and is free,
and anyone who flees to this are you fleeing is free indeed. The question is: to which Jerusalem are you
fleeing?
My beloved spoke, and said to me;
"Rise
up, my love, my fair one,
and come away."
Song of Solomon 2:10
Softly and Tenderly Jesus is calling
No comments:
Post a Comment