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Biblical inconsistency?
OSV.com ^
| 07-25-18
| Msgr. Charles Pope
Posted on 07/28/2018 8:00:05 AM PDT by Salvation
Biblical inconsistency? Jesus does not negate himself but rather gives different teachings on following the commandments
Msgr. Charles Pope
7/25/2018
Question: In Matthew 5:19, Jesus rails against relaxing or changing even the least of the commandments, and yet verse 19 also says that if one does, “[he] will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” It seems the consequences should be “losing” the kingdom of heaven if Jesus is consistent with what follows in verse 20. Can you explain the seeming inconsistency? — Jim Flynn, via email
Answer: Two different teachings are being made here, hence it is not a matter of consistency.
In verse 19, the operative teaching is that while unrepented mortal sin excludes one from the kingdom of God, not all violations of the law are mortal. Even the Ten Commandments, while indicating grave sin in themselves admit of lighter matter.
For example, regarding the Seventh Commandment, stealing a large amount or something essential or irreplaceable is usually a mortal sin. However, taking something small or insignificant, while a sin, may not be a mortal sin that excludes one from the kingdom of God. Thus, if the Lord were to adopt your word, the condemnation might be too sweeping. It does not follow that if someone breaks the least of the commandments they necessarily lose the kingdom of God.
Further, you will note that there is a kind of parallelism or play of words at work here. The Lord is saying, in effect: “If you break even the least of my teachings, I am going to call you the least!” Preachers often use such sayings in order to be memorable.
For example, consider the following word stitch: “Say what you mean, and mean what you say. But don’t say it mean.” The word “mean” unites all three phrases, but in each case a slightly different sense of the word “mean” is used.
Here, the Lord is not only being careful not to imply that even small infractions would land us in hell, but he is also being artful, resourceful and memorable by his use of a parallelism.
As for verse 20, we encounter a different teaching: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Here we are dealing with the problem of minimalism. Though the Pharisees fancied themselves meticulous observers of the law, they were very minimalist in their application of it. Jesus said they were hypocrites because they followed exacting laws about small things, such as tithing, but neglected weightier matters of the law, such as justice and mercy (cf. Mt 23:23). It is one thing to pay tithes; this is good and required. But neglecting the poor and failing to feed and teach them is far more important to God.
Jesus will develop this teaching against minimalism in the verses that follow in the Sermon on the Mount. For example, he will teach that it is not enough to avoid murder; the command requires we let God banish vengeful hatred from our hearts. It is not enough to avoid acts of adultery; we must allow God to give us chaste minds and hearts. It is not enough to avoid excessive retaliation; we ought to avoid retaliation altogether.
Therefore, the message of verse 20 is a call to exceed the minimalist notions of the law. Grace equips us for more, and we are expected to attain more by that grace. The old law could not save. Only the “new law” of grace can save or make us sufficiently holy to enter heaven.
Thus verse 19 speaks of little things, verse 20 of weightier things.
TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; History; Theology
KEYWORDS: bible; catholic; context; ignoretrolls; tickytackytrolling; yopios
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To: ebb tide
Mary sinned just like the rest of us.
If she hadn’t then she wouldn’t have needed a Savior.
And if Mary were capable of living a perfect life, then she showed that it could be done and Jesus didn’t need to die.
41
posted on
07/28/2018 7:50:32 PM PDT
by
metmom
( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith......)
To: metmom
Mary sinned just like the rest of us.
What were Her sins? Care to back up you accusation?
42
posted on
07/28/2018 7:56:14 PM PDT
by
ebb tide
(We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
To: ebb tide
So did His Blessed Mother. Every person who dies believing Christ goes to Heaven.
43
posted on
07/28/2018 7:58:01 PM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: ebb tide; metmom
>>Mary sinned just like the rest of us.<<
What were Her sins? Care to back up you accusation?
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 NASB
Rome's position contradicts the New Testament.
44
posted on
07/28/2018 8:01:13 PM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: ealgeone
You're welcome to your own opinion.
45
posted on
07/28/2018 8:01:19 PM PDT
by
ebb tide
(We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
To: ebb tide; metmom
You're welcome to your own opinion.
Romans 3:23 is not my opinion. It is inspired Scripture recorded by Paul.
Your disagreement is with the New Testament.
46
posted on
07/28/2018 8:03:56 PM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: ealgeone
So you think all the souls who died before the birth of Christ never went to Heaven, because they didn’t follow Him?
47
posted on
07/28/2018 8:05:06 PM PDT
by
ebb tide
(We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
To: ealgeone
No, it’s still just your opinion.
One of many of yours, that I’m not interested in.
48
posted on
07/28/2018 8:07:16 PM PDT
by
ebb tide
(We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
To: ebb tide; metmom
So you think all the souls who died before the birth of Christ never went to Heaven, because they didnt follow Him? Attaboy...change the topic when you cornered.
You can't refute Romans 3:23 in relation to the Immaculate Conception.
Suggest you read Hebrews 11....and all of Romans.
49
posted on
07/28/2018 8:08:30 PM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: ebb tide; metmom
No, its still just your opinion. Amazing. Utterly amazing. I give you a verse from the inspired Word of God and you call it my opinion because the clear reading of the verse contradicts your false Roman Catholic theology.
One of many of yours, that Im not interested in.
Yet you keep posting.
Get that help, ebb.....and soon.
50
posted on
07/28/2018 8:11:06 PM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: ealgeone
Get that help, ebb.....and soon.Polly want another cracker?
Yawn!
51
posted on
07/28/2018 8:13:43 PM PDT
by
ebb tide
(We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
To: metmom; Salvation; ealgeone
ONE sin is all it takes to damn someone.Thats correct MM. How many sins did Adam and Eve commit, before they stood condemned? One. Just one. They didnt commit murder, or abort their baby. They didnt assault anyone, or commit adultery. They just ate the fruit, but that one, little, seemingly innocuous sin, immediately condemned them to Hell, unless they had a savior.
No doubt some people think one can be truly saved, and use that as an excuse for wickedness. I think that is what the natural man of 1 Corinthians 2:14 thinks. Its not true, of course. If a true Christian DOES fall into sin, they could end up like Ananias and Sapphira. Only God knows for sure, whether they were truly saved or not. I tend to think they were, but got taken out, for lying to the Holy Spirit.
52
posted on
07/28/2018 9:59:46 PM PDT
by
Mark17
(Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning GOD....And the rest, as they say, is HIS-story)
To: ebb tide
It's Mary's own admission that she was a sinner. She called God *my savior*.
If she had been without sin, then she wouldn't have needed a savior.
Luke 1:46 And Mary said,My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
And while Scripture doesn't list them, and neither does Mary, fear and worry are two we can see.
Luke 1:29-30 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Luke 2:48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.
But honestly, your request is downright stupid.
Scripture does not make a point of listing every major players sins nor is it important to know the specifics. The lack of listing them is not proof that they don't exist. Nor is God obligated to include such details for your morbid curiosity.
It's enough to know this.
Romans 3:21-25 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
53
posted on
07/28/2018 11:53:11 PM PDT
by
metmom
( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith......)
To: Mark17
No doubt some people think one can be truly saved, and use that as an excuse for wickedness. Well, Jesus is more than fire insurance.
And HE knows who's sincere and who's just trying to use Him to see what they can get away with.
The attempts to discredit salvation by faith just because SOME people might think they can sin with impunity and still get to heaven doesn't work.
Heck, they don't let the actions of their pedo priests discredit Catholicism and yet they posit hypothetical scenarios and demand we pass judgment on whether that hypothetical person is saved or not.
It does not build a case against salvation by grace without woks, but just reveals that the person who thinks that way could not have been born again.
Nobody who has the Spirit of God in them would have that mindset towards sin.
People who are not saved simply have no concept of the change in one's thinking towards sin in the person who is regenerate, who has the Spirit of the living God in them.
Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:12-18 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Romans 7 details the struggle with sin that the believer has.
Nope, sinning wantonly is not an option for the believer.
Not to mention that GOD will not allow any of His children to continue in blatant sin like that.
Catholics treat God as if it's all our responsibility to avoid sin and God is a disinterested, disapproving, distant, hands off entity, who just sits up there with a scorecard, shaking His head, and ticking off *Yup, he did another one.*
They do NOT see that God has any active involvement with His own children that HE chose to redeem.
God will not let us continue in a self-destructive path but will actively intervene to protect us from ourselves and save us from ourselves.
54
posted on
07/29/2018 12:08:23 AM PDT
by
metmom
( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith......)
To: metmom
ebb is counting on Mary the Mother of Jesus to get him out of purgatory, pronto.
55
posted on
07/29/2018 3:46:41 PM PDT
by
MHGinTN
(A dispensational perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
To: Salvation
**So are you saying that leading a purposely sinless life will get you into heaven? **
I think Christ did that already. Do you understand at all that Jesus Christ IS the incarnation of Almighty God and that it is because of this that He was able to lead a sinless life and offer up His holy, SINLESS life as a propitiation for the sins of the world??? Every human being that ever lived or ever WILL live can only be saved by trusting in/having faith in the Savior Jesus Christ who took our place on the altar as our Kinsman Redeemer. Even Mary, the mother of Jesus, had to trust in Him and NOT her own righteousness to save her.
How I pray that Catholics and everyone else comes to realize that they can NEVER be good enough to save themselves and that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
56
posted on
07/29/2018 4:56:37 PM PDT
by
boatbums
(Pro-woman, pro-child, pro-life.)
To: metmom
It’s Mary’s own admission that she was a sinner. She called God *my savior*.
If she had been without sin, then she wouldn’t have needed a savior.
So, by the same ‘logic’, Jesus was a sinner also, since he was baptized? Did he need to be baptized to wash away his sins? By your logic, if Mary were sinless, then she would have been saved without God? If you lost a baby an hour after birth,obviously committed no sin, and went to heaven, then it went on it’s own? The baby would have no savior? I’m thinking not.
To: nobamanomore
The error is in thinking that baptism deals with sin.
It doesn’t.
So Jesus never made any defacto admission of sinfulness.
58
posted on
07/29/2018 6:03:01 PM PDT
by
metmom
( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith......)
To: nobamanomore; huckleberry55
59
posted on
07/29/2018 6:06:43 PM PDT
by
metmom
( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith......)
To: boatbums
Philippians 3:4-9 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith
60
posted on
07/29/2018 6:15:23 PM PDT
by
metmom
( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith......)
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