PXR Bible Study

[FedoraChar]

Hey, awesome, count me in! :D

Name: FedoraChar (you should know that I almost typed in Charmander009 xD)

Why do you want to join the Bible Study (No wrong answer. More a curiosity thing to help with picking what we study than anything else): Because I'd love to see what everyone's thoughts on the scriptures are, and learn more! ^^

Favorite Bible Book (If Applicable): Hmm, I'd have to say the Gospels--I love reading about the Savior's life and all he did and taught :)


I'll edit with my thoughts on this week's topic in a second ^^




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((As a quick note, I read the King James Version of the bible))

Questions:

1. What are your thoughts on what is said about the Jews at the start of the chapter? Where do you think they fit into Modern Day Christianity?

During this point in time, The Apostles are trying to teach the Christian-converted Jews that many of the practices and traditions of the Mosiac Law had been fulfilled in Christ and that now such things were not necessary any longer--now they had to start living the higher law that Christ had given them. All people, both Jew and Gentile, have access to Christ's Atonement, and all will need it.

The second question brings some beliefs that might be unique to my church: The Jews are the Covenant People of the Lord--they were the ones chosen to prepare the world for the coming of Christ--to prepare the world for His Gospel--and thus the keys and powers of the Gospel are their birthright. We believe that one day Israel will literally be gathered together and restored to the Gospel and to that right. "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first."

2. Paul describes people excusing their evil by saying the contrast makes God look greater. Do you think this is a fair justification? Why? Why not?

Actually, in my church today, someone shared an interesting thought on this, speaking from a quote that compared evil to cold and darkness (and I hope I can describe it in a way that makes sense, ha). Cold, they said, does not physically exist--it's described as the absence of heat. Darkness doesn't physically exist, either--it's the absence of light. Neither can described or measured as a form of matter or energy. In the same vein, evil does not exist to make God look greater--evil is the absence of God. Committing evil will not glorify God, but will only show how He is missing in the offender's life.

That being said... the people who speak such things are looking for justification for their behavior; they want to be able to do as they wish without consequence, but Paul is teaching here that such thinking is poisonous, that God is just and fair. If we desire to follow His teachings, we must be "dead... unto sin but alive unto God" (Romans 6:4,11). I think the best scripture that counters all this, however, is Luke 16:13 reads, "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."


3. Do you find the Old Testament Law to still be relevant after the crucifixion and resurrection? Why? Why not?

I wouldn't say that the Mosiac Law (or what you're calling the Old Testament Law) is irrelevant--rather, that it's been fulfilled. Every aspect of the old law was to prepare Israel and the world for the coming of Christ (to help them realize why they needed Christ's Atonement), and when He came, He taught us the higher law. No longer would we sacrifice up animals, but instead we would offer up a sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit. No longer was it "an eye for an eye", but a turning of the other cheek. Everything that was changed we can find in Matthew 5--the sermon on the mount.


Did any verses stand out to you?

Verse 20: "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

Here, Paul is essentially teaching that the little practices of the Mosaic Law are not necessary for salvation; that its existence was to teach of sin and show us why Christ's Atonement is needed in our lives.


Did this chapter raise any questions for you?

Well, Paul's writing is always a little tricky to understand, but I think I have the gist of it?