Posted on 04/26/2015 9:50:11 AM PDT by Gamecock
I would suggest you read it again. See how many times it says "by faith". It was the saving faith that enabled them to do. It was their saving faith that made their works efficacious. Without that saving faith none of what they did would have been anything. It all came down once again to faith.
Can you re-phrase this question? I'm not sure of what you are asking.
It is drawn from your comments here, " One can believe all he wants, but if it does not push you into performing good acts, to love your neighbor as yourself, then that faith is dead or demonic. It does no good. Everyone is known by their fruits (works)."
"Are the Jewish people, at the very least, the least of Jesus' brethren ?"
I understand where it came from. I’m just not sure what you mean by “the least of Jesus’ brethren.”
I would like to help you be sure. Where did "to love your neighbor as yourself," which you posted to me come from ?
OK--it came from the 10 Commandments, as well as Jesus teaching in the NT.
False, True
It is not one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus did teach that it was the Second Greatest commandment. The Greatest commandment is also not one of the Ten. Here is the commandment Jesus taught. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.
Leviticus, Catholic chapter nineteen, Protestant verse eighteen,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James
Are you now able to understand my question ?
Lord => LORD; Smartphones do not love the LORD, but I do.
Hmmm. So your claim is that because it doesn't say so in so many words, that "Love your neighbor" isn't part of the ten commandments?
What, then, is the purpose of commandments 6-10? All Jesus really did was condense 5 commandments into three words.
Are you now able to understand my question ?
Not yet. Please connect the dots for me. I must be dense.
Sola Fide is everything. Have it and you have eternal life with Christ. Don’t have it and you go to hell. It is precisely what the Catholic church does NOT have.
Yes, the Ten Commandments appear in different books of the Torah (First five books of the Bible), specifically in Exodus, and repeated in Deuteronomy. The love to love they neighbor is part of the Law of Moses, yet not one of the Ten Commandments.
What, then, is the purpose of commandments 6-10? All Jesus really did was condense 5 commandments into three words.
False, the three words already exist eternally in Leviticus from whence I quoted them.
Not yet. Please connect the dots for me. I must be dense.
Do not be hard on yourself. The Messiah kept the commandments, including Leviticus, which specifically commands to love the Jewish people as thyself. He said it was the second greatest commandment, just so we know where he's coming from, so to speak. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
John, Catholic chapter one, Protestant verse eleven,
John, Catholic chapter thirteen, Protestant verse one,
Luke, Catholic chapter twenty three, Protestant verses thirty three to thirty four,
Acts, Catholic chapter seven, Protestant verses fifty five to sixty,
First John, Catholic chapter two, Protestant verse seven,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James
If it's limited to the Jewish people, then why the parable of the Good Samaritan? Samaritans were hated (understatement) by the Jews at that time.
Precisely; think of how the Jews viewed the Samaritans in terms of how Christians commonly view Moslems. Yet the question I posed is whether the Jewish people are at the very least, the least of Jesus' brethren, not are they the only brethren of the Messiah.
OK—then I’ll answer the question as I see it—there are no “least” of Jesus’ brethren. There are no “greatest.”
That is odd; Jesus said there were ... Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Jeremiah, Catholic chapter thirty one, Protestant verses thirty one to thirty seven,
Matthew, Catholic chapter twenty five, Protestant verses thirty one to forty size,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James
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