what does it mean to die to the law? March 7, 2010
Posted by highofseventyfive in theology.Tags: death, hebrews, law, life, romans, sin
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Ok so sometimes Paul’s theology in Romans just blows me away. If you hover on a verse or two, and really ponder what it means, you start out confused, then move in to some sort of understanding of the point he’s trying to make. Then you read the next few verses and he outright explains what you just thought of in your head. Then you realize your thoughts aren’t new thoughts. They’ve been in the book all along. And you feel like you have nothing to contribute to the text anymore because the answer and the perspective just plopped itself there. I like this. Romans is such FULL complete thoughts.
Here goes some thoughts on the Law–looking at Romans 7, Hebrews 10, and a few others.
Today we talked about Romans 7. We tossed around this idea that we died to the Law, but we also talked about the law being dead. We know that Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matt 5:17) I think we meant to say that we are not under the law, or the law is “dead” to us. “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” (vs 6) So then, what does it mean to die to the law?
“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. ” (vs 4)
Okay, so we don’t belong to the law anymore. According to Leviticus 18:5, [Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD] the law is/was intended to be life-giving. Paul states this, “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.” (vs 10)
Why does the law intend to bring life, but not live up? “Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.” (vs 13)
This I can dig. Without the law, we wouldn’t really understand how we totally don’t measure up to God’s standards. So I guess I can see how the law brings death because it makes the sin we sin utterly sinful.
The law is “only” the law (as in, not good enough to bring life in itself). Hebrew 10:1, says, “The Law of Moses is like a shadow of the good things to come. This shadow isn’t the good things themselves, because it cannot free people from sin by the sacrifices that are offered year after year.” (CEV)
wow okay and now look at Hebrews 7:18 “The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.”
“You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:4-6
Galatians 3 is next up friends.
Its 1am and I have to be at work at 7a. haha. whoops. I will continue this study with Galatians 3
Seriously, Galatians 3 deserves a serious diving-into.
let the journey… November 20, 2009
Posted by highofseventyfive in documenting life.Tags: fedora's cafe, intervarsity, life, ministry, work
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Let the journey begin. I was about to say, Let the journey begin! but we all know that it has already begun. It began almost four years ago.
And this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
eternity has already begun, and the journey has already begun. I even look at the things in my life the past year, have all been working to set this up. I have an amazing close-to-full-time hours job at Starbucks, and I’m volunteering at Rider and TCNJ, its all lining up. I turned down two full time jobs for this. And though things may change, the Lord might change my circumstances at any time, could sweep the floor right out from underneath me, I have a vision and a direction for my life “right now” and it will take me as long as it needs to. There is a 300,000 student mission field in central/south New Jersey and God is sending me strategically to a college.
My head’s spinning! I am in just such the right spot now.
I said something like, “I don’t feel very official” or “when will I feel official?” and Greg bops me on the head and says, “there, now you are”.
there you have it folks, the ordination. nothing fancy, nothing dramatic. a conversation at a table in a cafe, and a pat on the head.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Let the journey CONTINUE!
purpose: to put, place September 16, 2009
Posted by highofseventyfive in Uncategorized.Tags: faith, God, growing up, humans, life, philosophy, post grad, purpose, reason, thinking
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Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
last night, elizabeth brought up an excellent point. Jesus didn’t do anything “worthwhile”, or, he didn’t start his ministry, until he was 30.
huh, doesn’t that take the pressure off quit a bit? i mean, here i am 22, graduated college, and all of a sudden i expect to be making great change in the world, having a job with health insurance, paying my college loans, finding a place to live, start having “purpose”. well? we’re so antsy these days, with no patience for the things God has stored up for us. The pressure from the world to leave college and become a fully-realized purposeful person is seemingly insurmountable.
how do I know that my super duper awesome mind boggling purpose isn’t until I’m 30? or 82? or that i’ve already had it? (how bout THEM apples). apparently my only job is what it says in
Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this word, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is– his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
a quick study on Purpose:
[Middle English purpos, from Anglo-Norman, from purposer, to intend : pur-, forth (from Latin prō-; see pro-1) + poser, to put; see pose1.]
Purpose is the cognitive awareness in cause and effect linking for achieving a goal in a given system, whether human or machine. Purpose serves to change the state of conditions in a given environment, usually to one with a perceived better set of conditions or parameters from the previous state. This change is the motivation that serves the focus of control and goal orientation.
“There is a fundamental human need for guiding ideals that give meaning to our actions”, states Roger Fisher. Renowned psychiatrist Victor Frankl’s premise is that ‘man’s search for meaning’ is the primary motivation of his life. He speaks of the ‘will to meaning’ as opposed to Freud’s’ ‘will to pleasure’ and Friedrich Nietzsche’s ‘will to power’.
First attested in c
.1290, from earl Old French porpos “aim, intention”, purpose is related to from porposer “to put forth,” from Vulgar Latin corruption of por- “forth” (Latin pro- “forth”) and Old French poser “to put, place”.[1] Purpose is related to the term pose used from 1374 as to “put in a certain position,” or “suggest, propose, suppose, assume,” a term use in Late Latin debating (c.300–c.700) from pausare “to halt, rest, pause”.[2]
[Middle English purpos, from Anglo-Norman, from purposer, to intend : pur-, forth (from Latin prō-; see pro-1) + poser, to put; see pose1.]
(make one of these! its from Wordle)
so if the word purpose could also mean: aim, intention, put forth, to put, place, put in a certain position, suggest, propose, suppose, assume, halt, rest, pause. This forces us to ask a few questions.
can you acquire purpose? can you earn or ask for it? or must it be delegated, designated? is it an action or just a state of being? does there need to be an achievable goal to have it? Is a purpose the same as a reason? it seems like, purpose is doled out like the newspapers are thrown on your driveway. It is put there, then, and only then, does purpose exist. So someone has to do the putting. We put purpose into something for a reason. We say, “well the purpose of what i’m doing is to _____”, or “my purpose is to ______”. There is a reason, an aim, a goal, that gives something enough value to consider it purpose. To consider that something was MADE to achieve this goal, really is just because of the placement of its value upon it. It is set, rested, placed, paused, at the place it needs to be.
We can give purpose to light switches, guitars, and processes like evaporation, but that is because we can see both the beginning and the end. And really, even that could be subjective. The purpose of a guitar for me, is to be played, to make music. The purpose of it for someone else might be to smash it at a rock show.
We have decided that it is reasonable to conclude that the purpose of evaporation is to get water back in the sky, so it can more easily travel by the wind, to somewhere else, to rain and water the ground. But the only reason we can say that, is because we watched water come down, go back up, and come back down again. We see it keeping a cycle going, and keeping life on our planet.
I don’t think that we can give ourselves purpose. I think our job is to discover our already pre-determined purpose. Can you do enough good things to earn purpose? I guess so; you could win enough votes to run an office; You could see a need, and invent yourself into the solution. But still, in order to actually obtain purpose, it needs to be acknowledged or approved of, by some higher or other source.
Is purpose only purpose if a clear goal is within vision? Can something be purposeless? In my thinking, nothing can be without purpose, because God is a god of order. Everything has purpose. We have purpose. Our ultimate purpose, as far as I can tell from the Bible, is to glorify God and be in relationship with Him. This is the aim and intention suggested and put forth by God. He has placed value in us. Our mini-purposes are many and constant. I think what gets in the way is, reason. What is the reason that we must glorify God? Why must we be in relation with Him? Why? And so we confuse purpose and reason, and feel that we need a reason to have a purpose.
Reason: Reason, cause, motive are terms for a circumstance (or circumstances) which brings about or explains certain results. A reason is an explanation of a situation or circumstance which made certain results seem possible or appropriate: The reason for the robbery was the victim’s display of his money. The cause is the way in which the circumstances produce the effect, that is, make a specific action seem necessary or desirable: The cause was the robber’s extreme need of money. A motive is the hope, desire, or other force which starts the action (or an action) in an attempt to produce specific results: The motive was to get money to buy food for his family.
“Purpose serves to change the state of conditions in a given environment”. Our purpose is to love God, but God is never-changing. So, loving God must actually mean not change in Him, but in us and our environment. Funny! Our purpose seemingly for someone else, is actually for us! Now, don’t loop that around and say our purpose then is for ourselves. That is where the world has gone completely wacky. But, if God intends for us to love Him, and receive His love, that is in turn transformative. And since there is only one end of the equation to be changed, loving God changes us. Our purpose is to start to match God, not only in “image” but in totality (heart, character, virtue, holiness). God knows what is best for us, because He created us, and put forth our purpose. To match him, to reflect him, to pour him out, is to glorify him.
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
comments welcome.
purpose: to put, place September 16, 2009
Posted by highofseventyfive in profound thoughts, theology.Tags: God, human, life, meaning, philosophy, purpose, reason
3 comments
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
last night, elizabeth brought up an excellent point. Jesus didn’t do anything “worthwhile”, or, he didn’t start his ministry, until he was 30.
huh, doesn’t that take the pressure off quit a bit? i mean, here i am 22, graduated college, and all of a sudden i expect to be making great change in the world, having a job with health insurance, paying my college loans, finding a place to live, start having “purpose”. well? we’re so antsy these days, with no patience for the things God has stored up for us. The pressure from the world to leave college and become a fully-realized purposeful person is seemingly insurmountable.
how do I know that my super duper awesome mind boggling purpose isn’t until I’m 30? or 82? or that i’ve already had it? (how bout THEM apples). apparently my only job is what it says in
Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this word, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is– his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
a quick study on Purpose:
[Middle English purpos, from Anglo-Norman, from purposer, to intend : pur-, forth (from Latin prō-; see pro-1) + poser, to put; see pose1.]
Purpose is the cognitive awareness in cause and effect linking for achieving a goal in a given system, whether human or machine. Purpose serves to change the state of conditions in a given environment, usually to one with a perceived better set of conditions or parameters from the previous state. This change is the motivation that serves the focus of control and goal orientation.
“There is a fundamental human need for guiding ideals that give meaning to our actions”, states Roger Fisher. Renowned psychiatrist Victor Frankl’s premise is that ‘man’s search for meaning’ is the primary motivation of his life. He speaks of the ‘will to meaning’ as opposed to Freud’s’ ‘will to pleasure’ and Friedrich Nietzsche’s ‘will to power’.
First attested in c.1290, from earl Old French porpos “aim, intention”, purpose is related to from porposer “to put forth,” from Vulgar Latin corruption of por- “forth” (Latin pro- “forth”) and Old French poser “to put, place”.[1] Purpose is related to the term pose used from 1374 as to “put in a certain position,” or “suggest, propose, suppose, assume,” a term use in Late Latin debating (c.300–c.700) from pausare “to halt, rest, pause”.[2]
[Middle English purpos, from Anglo-Norman, from purposer, to intend : pur-, forth (from Latin prō-; see pro-1) + poser, to put; see pose1.]
(make one of these! its from Wordle)
so if the word purpose could also mean: aim, intention, put forth, to put, place, put in a certain position, suggest, propose, suppose, assume, halt, rest, pause. This forces us to ask a few questions.
can you acquire purpose? can you earn or ask for it? or must it be delegated, designated? is it an action or just a state of being? does there need to be an achievable goal to have it? Is a purpose the same as a reason? it seems like, purpose is doled out like the newspapers are thrown on your driveway. It is put there, then, and only then, does purpose exist. So someone has to do the putting. We put purpose into something for a reason. We say, “well the purpose of what i’m doing is to _____”, or “my purpose is to ______”. There is a reason, an aim, a goal, that gives something enough value to consider it purpose. To consider that something was MADE to achieve this goal, really is just because of the placement of its value upon it. It is set, rested, placed, paused, at the place it needs to be.
We can give purpose to light switches, guitars, and processes like evaporation, but that is because we can see both the beginning and the end. And really, even that could be subjective. The purpose of a guitar for me, is to be played, to make music. The purpose of it for someone else might be to smash it at a rock show.
We have decided that it is reasonable to conclude that the purpose of evaporation is to get water back in the sky, so it can more easily travel by the wind, to somewhere else, to rain and water the ground. But the only reason we can say that, is because we watched water come down, go back up, and come back down again. We see it keeping a cycle going, and keeping life on our planet.
I don’t think that we can give ourselves purpose. I think our job is to discover our already pre-determined purpose. Can you do enough good things to earn purpose? I guess so; you could win enough votes to run an office; You could see a need, and invent yourself into the solution. But still, in order to actually obtain purpose, it needs to be acknowledged or approved of, by some higher or other source.
Is purpose only purpose if a clear goal is within vision? Can something be purposeless? In my thinking, nothing can be without purpose, because God is a god of order. Everything has purpose. We have purpose. Our ultimate purpose, as far as I can tell from the Bible, is to glorify God and be in relationship with Him. This is the aim and intention suggested and put forth by God. He has placed value in us. Our mini-purposes are many and constant. I think what gets in the way is, reason. What is the reason that we must glorify God? Why must we be in relation with Him? Why? And so we confuse purpose and reason, and feel that we need a reason to have a purpose.
Reason: Reason, cause, motive are terms for a circumstance (or circumstances) which brings about or explains certain results. A reason is an explanation of a situation or circumstance which made certain results seem possible or appropriate: The reason for the robbery was the victim’s display of his money. The cause is the way in which the circumstances produce the effect, that is, make a specific action seem necessary or desirable: The cause was the robber’s extreme need of money. A motive is the hope, desire, or other force which starts the action (or an action) in an attempt to produce specific results: The motive was to get money to buy food for his family.
“Purpose serves to change the state of conditions in a given environment”. Our purpose is to love God, but God is never-changing. So, loving God must actually mean not change in Him, but in us and our environment. Funny! Our purpose seemingly for someone else, is actually for us! Now, don’t loop that around and say our purpose then is for ourselves. That is where the world has gone completely wacky. But, if God intends for us to love Him, and receive His love, that is in turn transformative. And since there is only one end of the equation to be changed, loving God changes us. Our purpose is to start to match God, not only in “image” but in totality (heart, character, virtue, holiness). God knows what is best for us, because He created us, and put forth our purpose. To match him, to reflect him, to pour him out, is to glorify him.
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
comments welcome.
