Don W

These commands relate to “performing for the audience of One” because they tell us that our Lord Jesus should be the only One who knows what we are doing and why (or motivation) we are doing them; and if we let others know as well through our pride and self-glory and to receive men’s applause instead of Christ’s approval, then we are performing these things in the wrong way and for the wrong reason(s). As said above, the best antidote for the chief sin of pride addressed here is to get alone with God our heavenly Father and seek His face and His Word to us; and then He will give us much more then we ask of all His blessings from heaven above and help us to, in turn, let our lights shine with His tremendous love and grace on others we meet along this road of life. I also get very appalled at how some churches motivate people to give to them in displaying men and women’s “tremendous gifts” before the congregation instead of secretly giving our gifts (and ourselves) to the Lord for only He to know what we are doing. I even question-giving checks of my money in front of the church deacons for tax write-offs because then not only does the church deacons know how much I have given but also the government knows as well. Once in awhile when I don’t have enough cash with me to give at church, then I’ll have to write a check for the amount, but I keep that at a minimum mainly because of this passage in Matthew 6. Besides this, I don’t think that it’s really anybody else’s business to know what I give to the Lord besides His; and I think that there’s another verse in the Bible that speaks of not letting the left hand know what the right one is doing which goes along with this. We Christians need to give joyously and happily to the Lord but in secret also and then He will be with us in our lives helping us to live our lives of faith in Him, including our giving of ourselves and our money and gifts to Him. Amen!

It basically means to know Jesus personally as Lord and Savior and then we Christians will put on His perfection in our lives. In other words, we will always be trusting and maturing in the Lord towards more and more perfection in us that the Holy Spirit brings to us as we mature in the Lord, but in our lives this side of heavenly glory, we will never reach the “sinless perfection” of our glorious Lord and Savior, but God our heavenly Father sees us as such because we are part of His body here on earth. 1 John 1:10 says that this “doctrine of sinless perfection” in this life is a lie and those who ad heed to this false doctrine are in themselves liars. We need to follow and to obey this verse as closely (and with the help of the Holy Spirit) as we can but none of us will arrive there until we are in glory and are like the Lord Jesus Himself there in His glory. We are called to be “sons of our Father in heaven” (v. 45) and we are His children but we won’t arrive as perfect sons (and daughters) of His that is until we arrive in the land of perfection and glory—heavenly glory with Him as our Lord and Savior. “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” Amen!

I personally and strongly disagree with Dr. Wilson here and feel strongly that these verses all have to do with 2 ideas: judicial authority over individuals breaking the laws (decided by Judges appointed by the Law and not us individuals); and pacificism towards the Christian’s enemies—in other words, winning them over by God’s love in you instead of by hatred and evil violence towards them. Jesus Himself was not at all interested in the politics of the day under Roman rule, but instead was busy setting up His own Kingdom of peace and no more violence or other evils, and did not oppose the cruel and wicked Romans of that age. I believe that we should do the same in our lives, and be much more concerned with winning people over to goodness, peace and righteousness; then to defending ourselves against their evil and violence towards us (and other Christians); and we do this by following Christ’s words here in this passage and the wonderful example He left us as the “Prince of Peace” to the world so we are to bring peace to the world as He did in our lives. One example would be to bring peace and prosperity instead of hatred, vengeance and violence which we are bringing presently to Iraq and other areas of the Middle East by having our American troops fighting there; and we could accomplish this by bringing our troops home first and then sending people in various Christian organizations and individuals in order to help and assist them instead of fighting against them. I believe myself that this would very much make a difference in their lives as well as their views of Christianity (which right now they don’t highly regard in favor of them). In other words, as Christians, we should be much more concerned with being as peacemakers, then of militants patrolling the world with our military might and our political views, because I am sure this is what Christ Himself would have done and wants us to do as His body the church here on earth until He comes again and brings in His Kingdom and His sovereign rule over the whole world. This view I see as an unpopular view especially among most Christian believers, but I do believe that it is the Biblical and Christian worldview of the Word of God, and especially in this passage we are studying right now. Amen!

I do believe that the Lord is teaching many things in this passage, and one thing is both about pacifism (non-violent action) as well as for us, His followers, not to seek retaliation nor revenge against what our enemies do against us; but rather, to seek to love them with God’s love and let the Lord have His rule over our lives and have His revenge for us over them as He said, “Revenge will be Mine, says the Lord.”

These examples of Jesus show that the Kingdom of God, His heavenly Kingdom, is made up of His love that His disciples show to others, and not of the worldly self-interests; and then He gives us several examples of how we are to show this agape love towards others, whether friend or foe. If we show these examples of love to others simply with our own will-power, then they would aid and abet evil; but if they are shown to others with God’s power in and behind us, then we would be able win others over with God’s love and grace because His grace is much stronger then any evil that can be done here on the earth. We need to see and use these as examples in our lives to show others the tremendously powerful love of God that He has for us; and if then to demonstrate this love to them for the sake of His Kingdom and ultimately His rule over all of creation. Amen!

There are several minor differences, but they can be harmonized together as one account of the Lord

I forgot to mention the two main reasons why these laws of the Old Testament were given to us; one is so that we may live by them and to obey them with the help of the Holy Spirit so that we can walk with the Lord in our lives; and the second one is to be convicted of our sin in not perfectly obeying them so we will know that we need as our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, and because He perfectly obeyed and fulfilled every one of them, we can be saved by Him to live by the Holy Spirit within us out the rest of our days in obedience to these laws. Have any of us perfectly obeyed God's laws in our lives? Since we haven't then these same laws will be used by the Lord to either bring us to the Lord Jesus as our Savior or to convict those who don't come to the Lord or think that they don't need Him on Judgment Day. Thanks to God for giving us a Savior in His Son's life, death and resurrection from death so that we who know Him can now live for Him in His grace (free, unmerited or unearned love of God) in the knowledge that He has completely fulfilled them in us and has given us eternal life in Him. Amen!

As the pastor stated, this law of retaliation was given to limit the court to a fair and applicable punishment for the offense; and so was designed to be administered by a court and judge to the offender and not by the individual offended (by taking the “law into one’s own hands) or by personal action against the person who had broken the law. It’s interesting to me that the law in the Old Testament about capital punishment, such as in Leviticus 24:20: “…he that kills a man shall be put to death” (and other places in the Scriptures) is one of the most debated parts of the law today; and there are born-again Christians who are on both sides of the debate. But I feel that the Scriptures give the law for us in which to live and we are to live with Jesus’ help these laws in our land and to abide by them; so I believe we should have capital punishment for convicted first-degree murders. There are others who debate that we should show them mercy for their crimes (even though these murders don’t show mercy to their victims or their families) and I can see their side of the picture, too, but don’t agree with them either. Anyway, I think that we need to go along with the laws of our land in all of these areas, and if they are not to use capital punishment for those who murder someone else, then that is what we as Christians are to agree with them but this doesn’t mean that we cannot vote someone into office who agrees with us or try to change the law in some way (legally, of course) and this is what we should do. What are your thoughts as Christian believers on this? Don W

As the pastor just said, we need to always “speak the truth, but in love” to others. This is very hard to do this at all times but we need to do so even if the rest of the world (and even other Christians) doesn’t do it. I want to thank the Lord for His compassion, mercy and forgiveness for the many times I have failed in this area and yet He still has forgiven me for my failures and has restored me back into fellowship with Him time and time again. We need His help in this area of our lives, as it’s easy to slip into the ways of those around us and to tell lies and say things we don’t mean or need to say. With the Lord’s assistance through His Holy Spirit, we need not do these things anymore but rather let our “yes” be yes and our “no” be no—meaning exactly what we say is the truth and always remembering to say the truth out of love. And then our credibility will be believed by others and we won’t need to back it up with other ways to be believed in what we say because others will know we are telling the truth because what we say is the truth and nothing but the truth! I’m not exactly sure how far this goes in swearing in at a court hearing, etc. but most Christians do so because it is expected of them by the law, but such should not make what they say more truthful because they should tell the truth anyway no matter what. Maybe the pastor will get into this type of swearing later in this lesson but what I said before goes for this swearing as well as any other kind of “backing up your word”—we don’t need to do it at all if our words are always truthful and we say what we say to others the truth out of our love for them. Amen!

No, neither Jesus

Jesus meant just as He said to them that He is the One who will resurrect them from the dead and give them new or eternal life with Him forever and ever. Jesus, being the first One resurrected from the dead (and to stay resurrected and living), showed us who believe and trust in Him that He will resurrect our dead bodies in the same way, and give us His new life that He gave to Himself; and then we will be with Him in His heavenly glory having and enjoying His glory (which is beyond anything or everything we can describe or enjoy here on earth) in His presence forever in our new, resurrected and glorious bodies!!!!!! Jesus has everything to do with our resurrection from the dead, and all the honor and glory goes to Him!!!!!!! Amen!

Yes, according to the Scriptures, both the righteous and the unrighteous will experience resurrection from the dead

Job

I wonder if this question started out as a misprint because I think that it would be more accurate to say: “The church has not always been supportive of those who are hurting or scarred.” This Bible study participants have given several examples of this and I could add one more of my own. When my ex-wife was looking for a way out of her marriage to me, she seek some church members until she finally found one who told her that it was “okay to go through with the divorce” (probably because this woman had gone through with one herself and felt that what was okay for her was okay for others, too) and I didn’t get any help from any of the three pastors of the church either. In fact, one even told me that we could not confront her about her sin because he wasn’t going to act as if he were “Scripture police” against her sin and not another’s sin. He misused the verse on not judging another’s sin—at least that’s what I thought he meant by this statement. Anyway, I left that church (for other reasons, too, but the main one was the lack of any church discipline in it) after my wife divorced and deserted me—which really turned out alright anyway because I ended up in a smaller but much more loving church family. But they weren’t supportive at all to me before, during or after my wife left me. And I think that, unfortunately, there are many churches today, as this one is that are not supporting hurting and caring people. I would sure try to be much more supportive of the hurting person than the unnamed church we use to attend! And that wouldn't be very hard to do at all!!!!

Not really because that person breaks the first bond of marriage when he or she marries another, and God will forgive that person and even bless the new marriage if the couple stays true and faithful to Him and to each other. No, if that person separates and/or divorces the second mate, it will not be to get back into God’s will because, I believe that they are already in God’s will and God will bless them in their new marriage if they stay faithful to God and to each other in their marriage. One can get back into God’s will (and this is always possible no matter how far away a true believer strays as the “Prodigal son or daughter” God will go after the person to bring the “lost sheep” back to the fold!) by repenting of one’s sin and asking forgiveness for it from the person you offended and God Himself; and then submitting oneself to do the Lord’s will from then on through his/her life. This is always possible (and very much probable for the true believer) no matter what sin(s) one committed against another human being and God Himself. 1 John 1:9 makes this clear to all of us believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!

I don’t think that they misunderstood it as much as not accepting this teaching in its fullest extent in that marriage is very hard for any couple to be together and it may be much easier for one to be unmarried before the Lord then to try to stay married together. I don’t accept Dr. Wilson’s teaching above that keeps stating that there is not any “escape clause” in Jesus’ teaching that does not allow for divorce and remarriage because that’s not in reading the whole Word of God and applying it to your life. There are actually two reasons for divorce (and I believe they also allow for remarriage), adultery and desertion (1 Corinthians 7:15) and there are many biblical based churches who teach the same thing. I have been through both causes for divorce, and in the last one, I didn’t have a chance or choice to defend my marriage because of California State laws that grant divorces for any reason whatsoever so my ex-wife just up and walked out on me and got a “no-fault” divorce simply because she wanted to go back home to Washington State and I had to remain here to work for a few more years. Anyway, I believe that State laws add to this confusion about divorces and remarriage, and even though I believe from God’s Word that I can remarry another Christian woman, I am entirely fed up and through with marriage at my age and really think that I can do far more for the glory of God single then if I got married again which I’m not going to do ever again! But I still believe that the fullness of the Scriptures allows us to be divorced and remarried if we are the innocent partners of a marriage; and that is what the Apostles later found out to be the truth when the Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 7. Praise the Lord for His complete and worthy Word to us in it’s fullness and completeness. When we are studying God’s Word, we need to consider the whole Word of God and not just the parts that fit our particular doctrinal beliefs. Amen!

According to Jesus, the Mosaic Law does not command divorce but it does both allow it and regulates it (especially in protecting the woman who got divorced and her property). It allowed divorce because it happens from the hardening of men and women’s hearts against the Lord and His Word to mankind; but divorce is not God’s original intention for marriage, but is allowed because of unfaithfulness of one or both marriage partners as well as by the desertion of the marriage by one of the partners. This is according to these two passages of Jesus’ teaching on marriage and divorce in Matthew, and includes Paul’s teaching (inspired by the Holy Spirit) in 1 Corinthians 7. But God did not originally intend for the marriage vows to be broken by either couple in divorce; but allowed this to happen in the two cases of unfaithfulness in marriage. But I think that forgiveness between the two people in marriage should come first before even considering the breaking up of the marriage; but if that doesn’t work, then the couple are allowed to get a divorce from each other.

No, two people do not have to be Christians nor married in a religious ceremony to become “joined as one flesh”; this includes everybody who are male and female on the earth, no matter how or why they were joined together. In today’s society which is based so much on sexual themes for everything in the world including a couple simply living together instead of getting married, I think that it would be a low percentage of couples who have been actually “joined together” by God in marriage; and seems to be going lower and lower as most of the next generation grows up and does not know anything about God or His Word to us. I think that the current life-style of just living together as boy-and-girlfriends started in the mid-60s when the so-called “free love” movement started, and now those of us who were either caught up in this movement or followed later on have a heavy price to pay for the sinful life-styles we had (and still have). Now days it is very hard if not nearly impossible to keep a marriage together alive and well because of all the pressures against such happening; but God is the Author of the impossible and only He can achieve this in us if we love and obey Him and His Word to us. He still does miraculous things in our lives when we ask Him to do so with faith in Him and obedience to His Word, the Holy Bible; and marriage to become one flesh and stick together is one of many miraculous things only God can do in our lives. Amen

Jesus is definitely nearer to siding with the stricter school of Shammai, but first He explains the original purpose or intention for marriage is to become “one flesh” and not to be split up by anything of man including a divorce. But then He goes on to make one exception to His prohibition of divorce, which is sexual unfaithfulness in a marriage (by either or both sides) so, I believe, that the innocent party in this unfaithfulness can in the Lord get remarried and not become adulterers. Later on, the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7 adds desertion to the reasons why a divorce can happen, but also stresses that remarriage can only take place with another child of God; and it would be better if no marriage took place at all (or remarriage) because of the troubles of the world a married couple have to go through (that’s why I’m not actively seeking a wife but want to remain single and live for the Lord) in these days. Deuteronomy 24:1-4 relates to Jesus’ teaching here because it explains what Moses allowed for divorce under the Law and how Jesus narrowed it down to one or two situations as He interpreted the Mosaic words “something indecent about her” as meaning unfaithfulness or desertion of the marriage, and not for any other reason for divorce. But Jesus still thought it best that the married couple would stay married and not let anybody separate the two who became one in His eyes.

Many of the similarities of the words of Psalm 22 and the events of Jesus

I haven

The overarching theme of Jesus’ teaching this whole passage (verses 21-26) is the fulfillment of the second greatest commandment that the Lord God gave to us, that is to love our neighbors as ourselves. In other words, to love them as much or even more then we love ourselves, and to do unto them many more good things then the good things we do for ourselves. Elsewhere in the Holy Bible this is put as to prefer to others first the things which we like to do and to have; and to be humble before others and to do the works of righteousness, and hate the works of evil in our lives as we follow and obey our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This commandment follows our obedience to the first greatest commandment, that is, to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, with all of our souls, and with all our strength (Deut. 6:5 and elsewhere). Since our Lord Jesus did all of these things in His entire life, He fulfilled all of the Commandments that His Father in heaven gave to us; and we, too, can be a part of this fulfillment when we live the way He wants us to live through living in and through the Holy Spirit of God. Praise be to the Lord our God for the wonderful works He has done for and in us!!!!! Amen!

All of us are required to ask those we have sinned against them for their forgiveness, as well as to forgive others of their sins against us, and then to repent of these sins; and to do it quickly, don’t put these things off until another time as we don’t know when Christ will come again to judge the heavens and the earth. This “settling” is with those who we’ve wronged or those who have wronged us; and means to try and be reconciled with them and with the Lord. There are many reasons for us to settle with them, including the restoration of fellowship with them and our God our heavenly Father; because we don’t know when Christ will come to judge all of us; and that the penalty for our sins is not “so harsh” as on Judgment Day, meaning that now Christ has forgiven our every sin so we are entirely forgiven now as well as on Judgment Day. Praise the Lord for this truth!!!! Amen!

We cannot truly worship a holy God in true holiness and faith when we have wronged a brother or sister in the faith because we have broken the unity of our faith with each other and with God. We should do everything we can in appropriate action to try and be reconciled with our brothers and sisters in the Lord and to be at peace with each other in forgiving them for their wrongdoings as well as asking them for forgiveness for ours. I cannot think of any situations that we shouldn’t try to resolve unless they may be upsetting and embarrassing to a third party; but there are some that we cannot resolve since maybe the other offended party does not want to resolve the wrongdoing or else has moved away where we cannot find them any longer, or has passed away. In these cases, we need to ask God’s forgiveness for our wrongdoing and repent from our sin, and leave it in God’s hands to make the thing right between both parties; to do whatever we possibly can to right the wrong thing, and then to leave the rest up to the Lord to make the situation right. Then we can be sure, in our hearts, that He will do so—at least in our own hearts—and we can then approach His altar of forgiveness and worship Him in His holiness as we should.

Jesus treats them the same because they both are evil and come from the evil one and from our evil hearts. Both a murderer and one who gives out angry insults are evil in God’s eyes, and both desperately require God’s forgiveness for them to be made right before the Lord. I have read these verses many times through the years of my Christian life, but never thought that they would convict me as much as they do now. I now realize that God is holy and expects us to be holy and righteous before Him, and we as sinful people can only become that way by claiming the precious blood of Jesus Christ to take away all of our sin—even the murder and angry insults of our evil hearts. I immediately confessed this sin in me for many years and asked the Lord to help me to repent from doing it again. This is how we need to act when we actually believe that God as murder—to confess them as sin before the Lord and then to repent from these sins, views our angry attitudes towards others. Amen!