OUTLINE of a Scriptural path toward Christ’s walk to Gethsemane, Calvary, beyond Bethany and anticipating the Lord’s return in glory in these last days.
The liturgical season of Lent although having no Biblical requirement has always been a reflective time for me. I have provided some glances back for any who have not followed Talk of JESUS in previous Lenten seasons.
This YEAR – A.D. 2025 to most of you (2025 C.E. to most of our unbelieving world) – I wanted to lead you through some Old Testament Scriptures looking through Jewish eyes (yes JESUS and EVERY Apostle was Jewish). You may glance at a HEBREW organization of the BIBLE below which orders and groups our O.T. Books differently.
G_d only knows how many of the 40 days of Lent I will publish, but each will likely be briefer than my usual 5-minute READ.
Finally, beloved brother or sister in Christ,
IF you look for a connecting thread between these O.T. Scriptures and Christ you may discover a faithful Jewish thread of contrition not seen in the Gospels except in the Person of Jesus. (Think of Gethsemane, now.. and follow Him along the narrow path.)
Won’t you pray for me and comment here encouraging all?
Roger Harned – Author and Site administrator, Talk of JESUS .com
a picture of LENT from AD 2014
Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
This phrase refers to the entirety of the Hebrew Scriptures, known as the Tanakh, which is divided into the Torah (Law), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings).
In the context of Matthew 22:40, “the Law and the Prophets” is a shorthand for the Old Testament.
Paul now draws a picture of the human body in order that members of the body of believers might see our own part in the larger Church in Corinth and all places where the saints gather in Christ’s Name.
IF someone in your church does not yet manifest any fruit of the Spirit, is it possible that the Lord has not given them the Spirit OR made these a part of His Body - a member of His Church?
Are even the best spiritualities of faithful jews and religious adherents of Islam connected to the body of our Lord Christ Jesus?
Do the best of Hindus Buddhists and other pagan worshipers not oppose Christ?
Yet some are drawn by the Spirit.
The Body of Christ
For just as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is Christ.
What is the overriding context of this epistle Paul writes to a church on the Achaian peninsula of Greece ?
The Apostle to the Gentiles (Hellenists or Greek or Roman) -- seeks to heal long-standing differences in this large Roman city of Corinth situated in the philosophic and cultural center of ancient Europe.
To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom – v.8 (quite Hellenist)
to another faith.. to another gifts of healing v.9 (the One God of the Jews and ignored signs of the Messiah)
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one part, but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:14 BSB
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body?
And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?
(Now think of the body of Christ, the church.)
If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
Laughable! Hyperbole, yet logical.
But now hath God set the members
(And the Spirit of God has distributed your spiritual gifts.)
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
How strange a body would be if it had only one part!
1 Corinthians 12:18 KJV and 12:19 NLT
Do you get both the seriousness and Paul's practical ridicule of members di-vi-ded by spiritualities God granted to others?
The Apostle to the gentiles continues his illustration:
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.”
Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.”
Here is Paul’s appeal to draw near to your members divided by opinions concerning spiritual gifts and an order of regulating the body (so to speak).
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty, whereas our presentable parts have no such need.
But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another.
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Has the Great Physician not set the parts of the body into their proper place?
Appointment of the Greater Gifts
The Apostle sent out to the Corinthians, Achaeans, Greeks, Romans and displaced Jews suggests an order of importance in the A.D. first century church. Yet Paul has just instructed the saints that it is the Spirit which places us in our place in the Church -- and that spiritual GIFTS are not ours to choose.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it. And in the church God has appointed
first of all apostles,
second prophets,
third teachers,
then workers of miracles,
and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.
A local (Corinthian) understanding of roles and spiritual gifts
ἀπόστολοι (apostoloi) Noun – Nominative Masculine Plural Strong’s 652: From apostello; a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ.
Am I not an apostle?G652 am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostleG652 unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.
So what does the Apostle Paul(#1 on the authoritative list) ask as he further questions the Corinthian saints of differing opinions about their own roles in the local church?
and Who is in charge of who, here in our local gathering of saints in Corinth?
Perhaps in the hearing of Paul’s first letter being read to the Corinthian Churchthese saints might have wondered what the APOSTLE would prescribe next as a solution to OUR divisions.
“always connotes the ideas ofinvisibility and of power. ..it is in fact an after-Pentecost word.
the activities Godward of regenerate men are ‘spiritual sacrifices,’ 1Pe 2:5; their appointed activities in the churches are also called ‘spiritual gifts,’ lit., ‘spiritualities,’ 1Cr 12:1; 14:1;
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words Adjective Strong’s Number: g4152 Greek: pneumatikos
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
I want to begin HERE by proceeding with the Apostle’s letter to the church in Corinth because SPIRITUAL GIFTS seem not only mysterious, but frequently misused in preaching and therefore confusing to Christians growing in our faith.
So in addition to working our way through 1 Corinthians 12 we will also examine and hopefully clarify the context of these spiritualities of which the Apostle writes throughout his epistle.
The Corinthian connection of Spiritualities
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
You know that when you were pagans, to mute idols you were led, as being carried away.
Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed,”
and no one is able to say, “Jesus is Lord,” if not in the Holy Spirit.
Ignorant?
21st century Common Era christians don't use such offensive self-evaluation of ANYONE in our church, do we? Yet the Apostle Paul did in asking church members to examine themselves.
We may eventually acknowledge what we formerly did not know or did not understand. But how we avoid confession of current err and continuing sin.
Yet the Apostle consistently corrects the Corinthian church in these things pointing to Christ in a Spiritual sense:
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 :: Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)
Now to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit, for the common profiting.
For truly, to one is given a word of wisdom by the Spirit, and to another a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, and to a different one faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another working of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another distinguishing of spirits, and to a different one various kinds of tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues.
Now one and the same the Spirit works all these things, apportioning individually to each as He wills.
From his call by Jesus Christ after the Lord's resurrection and consequent authority 'through the will of God' the Apostle Paul will proceed to instruct Christ's body (the Church, as he will illustrate) in the humility and nature of the gifts of their spiritualities.
And God G2316 hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
Throughout his letter Paul reveals the unseen unfolding mysteries of Christ through the Spirit of the Triune God.
The Corinthian saints are no more like the communities in which they live who have spiritualities of their own.
Were the communities and spiritualities of Corinth so different from our own 21st century C.E. gatherings and communions which include all with great diversity, yet with considerable ignorance of the Spirit?
And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
_gac_
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
