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FUTILITY (of mortality)

Creation (is) subjected to futility…


(Romans 8:20)

Paul provides essential revelation in his great doctrinal letter that he hopes will revolutionise the reader’s relationship with his life, but none strikes so hard as the spiritual reality that anything gained and achieved is meaningless and worthless within this creation. The world of men and women, indeed, the earth upon which they tread along with every cosmic body will be destroyed by God. Thus, mortal life is futile, because God subjected his creation to futility.

The Greek word Paul employs mataiotés (ματαιότης) means inutility, i.e. good for nothing; figuratively speaking that which is transient or debased. It derives from mataios, an adjective meaning ‘worthless.’

Of course this is not a fresh revelation, a similar one was given to the Kohelet, the Preacher whom some consider to be Solomon. He opens his thought experiment by immediately giving his conclusion, ‘all is in vain’ (Ecclesiastes 1:2). The Hebrew word hebel, literally a vapour or mist conveys all the same understanding of mataiotés [for more on this see post 1/6/23 entitled Pointless].

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HATE (one’s family)

Hate (one’s family)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
(Luke 14:26)

The chronology and sequence of events is not always obvious in Luke’s account of Jesus’ ministry; however, the gospel provides the context as here. Jesus is being followed by ‘great’ crowds – and John’s gospel (e.g. 6:26) records that the crowds often wanted Jesus to perform, whether it was producing food or a healing miracle. This was in danger of becoming a circus, and Jesus would have none of it.

Jesus words can be understood to rebuke those who trailed after him, and it was a deliberately shocking statement, intended to arrest people in their tracks – not least, because he seemed to contradict the fifth commandment, to honour your father and mother that Moses declared to Israel, and many would dwell upon the qualification, given the reality of Roman servitude.

‘Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.’ (Exodus 20:12)

Surely Jesus is not making a new commandment, not merely enhancing but challenging Moses’ authority? Perhaps he does not really mean ‘hate’?

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(ETERNAL) DESTRUCTION

When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
(2 Thessalonians 1:8-9)

The Bible asserts that when Jesus, Israel’s Messiah, returns he will come to judge the nations. Jesus himself describes the scene speaking of himself as the Son of Man:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (Matthew 25:31-32)

Jesus then affirms those he judges to be unrighteous ‘will go away into eternal punishment’ while ‘the righteous (go) into eternal life.’

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DELUSION

God sends (them) a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
(2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)

Greek word translated delusion is plané (πλάνη), in context, this represents a deception or deceit. It derives from the verb planaó, to go astray, to wander, or cause to wander or be misled. In English, this comes to us in the word ‘planet’ as these satellites of the sun are observed to ‘wander’ across the firmament, the ‘firm’ back-cloth of the fixed stars.

So, the sense is deviation, and specifically in the spiritual context, deviation from the truth that there is one God; and of course, the planets are even named after pagan gods, mere inventions from the human mind under powerful delusion.

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OVERCOME

‘Take heart; I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33b)

Following the Passover Meal, Jesus prepares his disciples telling them he is about to leave them, but he will send the Paraclete in his place.  

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation… (ibid 16:33a)

He knows they will suffer the loss, not least, initially in their faith that the broken man on the cross was not the Messiah they hoped he was.  With the exception of John, performing the family duty of supporting his aunt, Mary, the disciples would scatter and return to Galilee.

But it easy to pass over his summary statement, that he has ‘overcome the world’, noting this is a completed action, in other words, he can surrender to death knowing he is sinless, and that is a victory. 

The Greek verb νικάω nikaó means to vanquish, conquer, prevail over and it derives from the Niké, the pagan goddess of victory.  So, Jesus saying that he has already won a victory even before passing test of obedience in Gethsemane, and rendering up his life and spirit to his Father.

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REJECTION

For you know that afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, (Esau) was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.  

(Hebrews 12:17)

To the author of Hebrews, Esau is cautionary example.  This book of the New Testament is a warning to Jews of the early Church to not turn their back on their faith that Jesus is their Messiah, the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets, their Scripture.

Exhorting them to endure, he says this:

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.  (ibid 12:15-16)

Esau came to regret his rash exchange of birthright and acts as a reminder to Jews contemplating apostasy, remember he could not reverse this decision – in this, he was ‘rejected’.  The word translated is ἀποδοκιμάζω(apodokimazó) and it means to disallow; therefore, it is important to confuse the denial of Esau’s request with ultimate rejection by God.  

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WRITING (LAW)

The LORD… gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18)

The Jews were jealous of the Law of Moses, and when Jesus began to teach, many questioned his credentials.  This was one of the reasons that by the final year of his ministry (that would conclude at Passover 33AD) many were seeking to be rid of him. This came to a head the previous year at the feast of Tabernacles:

About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marvelled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” 

So, Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me…” 

(John 7:14-16)

While some openly question whether Jesus could be the Messiah, Jesus goes on to make a different assertion, albeit indirectly; importantly, one concerning his Godly authority.

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WITHHOLD

a man named Ananias, along with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. With his wife’s knowledge, he withheld some of the proceeds from the sale. (Acts 5:1-2a; Common English Bible)

The Greek verb translated in many translations as ‘keep back’ but in the above more simply ‘withhold’ is νοσφίζω nosphizó ‘to sequestrate for oneself’.  The more common usage of this Greek word ‘to embezzle, pilfer or purloin’ is more problematic in the context of this singular incident that beset the foundational Church with fear when first Ananias and then his wife, were struck dead by God as the result of this act.  After all, as the head quotation shows this was Ananias and Sapphira’s asset to theirs to dispose of as they pleased; they stole from no one.  

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Conscience

Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.  (Romans 13:5)

In the application chapters of his epistle to the Romans, Paul cycles through a number of scenarios where the justified walking the path of sanctification will be confronted with dilemma between conscience and commandment – in the case quoted above, to obey the God-appointed governing authorities.  Given that Paul appealed to Caesar and that emperor was Nero, the dilemma is immediately obvious.

But to understand better, one has to examine Biblically what is ‘conscience’.   The Greek word employed by Paul is συνείδησις syneídēsis is a compound of syn ‘together with’ and eido ‘to know or see’ and describes ‘shared understanding’.  Thus, conscience is the tempering of individual reaction and instinct with respect to others.  Conscience is also concerning with the regulation of conduct and this infers a concept of morality, hence it the Bible there is reference to ‘good’ conscience.  But the interesting consideration is how conscience might grow at all.

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INVITATION (to dine)

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.  (Luke 7:36)

Gospel accounts of Jesus dining with others are manifold.  The Greek verb φάγω phago means simply eat, but he is asked, ἐρωτάω erótaó, and his presence requested – in other words, he is invited – on many occasions, and by many different kinds of people.  There are those of high society, which in Jesus’ day, were the ultra-religious.  In addition to the head quotation, Luke records two other instances of Jesus accepting an invitation to dine in a Pharisees’ home, 11:37 and 14:1 but, of course, the Pharisees were also critical that Jesus was indiscriminate in his choice of table.

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