Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Gospel of John 8:12 ESV
TalkofJESUS.com recommends witness from other sites from time to time. Today's Good News for you with ears to hear is from Truth For Life a ministry of Alistair Begg.
TRUTH FOR LIFE PROGRAM
‘You’re not my father,’ the young woman yelled at the top of her voice as her mother tried to take control of the situation. (The prodigal teen might just as well been a son rejecting the authority of his father.)
Most Christians are no doubt familiar with the scenario of Jesus’ parable about the prodigal son with its two brothers questioning their relationships with their father.
We have perhaps neglected a theological relationship of the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of God.
Today in PART 2 of our examination of the role of the FATHER we continue in our study of doctrines of the Common Era by looking at contemporary family relationships AND parallels to the Son Jesus‘ parable of the prodigal son (which of course HE is not).
You'll find an archaic former view of 'the prodigal' in the New King James version of the Bible from Before the Common Era referring to the son's prodigal living common to this era.
This parable of Jesus is part of three illustrations of those whose faith is LOST as answer to why the Lord receives and dines with SINNERS.
The Parable of the Lost Son
Luke 15:11 NKJV
Then He said:
“A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ..when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him,
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’
HERE is the riotous Common Era christian as well! You, me and others BEFORE some realize that WE may return to GOD the FATHER in humility — BEFORE some become acceptable in the Father’s house through the saving grace of the SINLESS Son JESUS our only hope and Savior.
(You likely know more of the parable and its additional lessons from this father.)
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
Our cover PHOTO, christian family photo album or church member directory could include THOUSANDS of FACES we know who were once near and dear to our hearts.
As noted previously the truth of SCRIPTURE has not changed. WE cannot quite grasp the mystery of the Holy Spirit. AND in Common Era preaching Jesus can be promoted more like WE like on the stage of 'worship.' YET the fruit of FALSE teaching may easily rot souls JESUS would save had WE prodigal evangelicals returned to the Father.
Jesus welcomes ALL sinners with the love of a friend. This Common Era king embraces sinners of ALL cultures and beliefs without requiring any turn toward His righteousness and away from The Life of this world.
FALSE! According to Scripture.
I know a man in Christ.. —such a man was caught up to the third heaven.
The Apostle Paul in witnessing a true event without disclosure of his source of witness writes to Christians in Corinth. The 'man' in Christ may have been Paul, John during his Revelation from Jesus Christ, perhaps even Peter or another. The witness is authentic. Therefore the truth and impact of these scenes require no identification of its narrator.
‘I knew a dad..’ I could say, ‘I know a man’ or ‘I know a woman’ or even ‘I knew a 21st century common era mom.’
Here is true witness of several sad stories of sin:
These are all lost sheep, prodigal sons and daughters of FATHERS who are also sinners.
JESUS would invite ANY to the great feast of Heaven..
YET MANY will die in their sin
still refusing to turn back to our Father God
from so many pigsties of the Common Era.
SOMETHING CHANGED, but I’m not certain when.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com
What is certain in 2023 of the Common Era is that:
Fathers (present or absent) may NOT raise, teach or discipline ANY human progeny.
America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2022 – U.S. Census
GOD, the authority of any church and especially FATHERS are anathema to the majority of this COMMON ERA.
Roger@TalkofJESUS.com on Rejection of the Father of Trinity
It’s quite easy for some to worship MARY, the ‘single mom’ of the child Jesus we celebrate each ‘Christmas.’
Yet in the Common Era Mary could easily have made a CHOICE to ABORT this BABY before the Census in Bethlehem!
BUT since SHE chose to live with Joseph (who is NOT the FATHER of Jesus),
Mary was a ‘single MOM’ we can look up to — even worship as the mother of god.
Of course A.D. first century culture was intolerant of such things.
What does JESUS say about ‘the Father’ that is so offensive to so many in Common Era churches in these last days?
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that am He, and I do nothing from Myself, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
“I and the Father are [in essence] one.”
Gospel of John: 6:40, 8:28, 10:30 Legacy Standard Bible
apokalypsis iēsous christos which God gave Him to show to His slaves the things which must soon happen; and He indicated this by sending it through His angel to His slave John,
The Revelation of Jesus Christ 1:1 LSB from Morphological Greek New Testament
Revelation 3:19-22
‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Reproof, discipline and certainly that ‘slave‘ thing WE dare not proclaim to Common Era christians.
‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Revelation of Jesus Christ to John
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20 LSB – Command of the Risen Christ Jesus
Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
The School of Our Master the Lord Jesus Christ is led by the lecturer Paul; known as the Apostle to the Gentiles and formerly known as Saul of Tarsus. Picture this setting & scene in either the 1st century A.D. where it took place OR in a more Common Era scene in a University of this time:
‘We haven’t heard from Paul in a while. I heard that he has been teaching in the School of Tyrannus. Is that so?‘
‘Let’s go over to the big lecture hall and see.‘
Paul has already encountered various schools of thought at several points on his missionary journeys. His Pharisaical School in Jerusalem had taught different doctrines than an exclusive School the Sadducees. So the renounced Jewish scholar comfortably challenged other beliefs and philosophies.
And just like back in Corinth Achaia, Paul must reconcile perceptions of Christ with the Greeks and Yeshua Messiah of the Jews to followers of The Way in Ephesus.
Now that he resides in this key city of Asia Minor where the Holy Spirit initially had prevented Paul from going, Paul will no doubt need to answer many questions about our Lord Jesus Christ.
AND let’s not overlook Paul’s perseverance during several months of Apostolic teaching in Ephesus that took place here which Luke covers in just a few summary verses.
A brief reminder:
Paul began his journey to Ephesus in ~A.D. 52 by land from the church in Antioch and will not return from this 2700 mile mission for about five years.
As is his general practice the Apostle first teaches the Good News of the Messiah Jesus to the Jews.
And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.
Acts of the Apostles 19:8 ESV – Luke’s account of Paul upon arrival in Ephesus
Twelve converted disciples join Paul, listening to the Gospel as the Apostle teaches fellow Jews how Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures as the Promised One. Many Jews believe during this time of Paul’s proclaiming Jesus in the synagogue and consequently follow The Way.
Yet like everywhere else, some remain immovable by truth or any other teaching than that which serves them.
But when some became stubborn
and continued in unbelief,
speaking evil of the Way before the congregation..
[A familiar pattern of stiff-necked men standing firm on their shaky ground of unreasoned truth and false doctrine.]
.. he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.
Acts of the Apostles 19:9
NOTE: Although this picture is NOT the School of Tyrannus, don't miss the significance of this School in the city of Ephesus as a university where men could gather to hear lecturers in order to learn and discuss their teachings.
Let’s look a root problem of unbelievers from the Greek root words Luke chooses translated from the NASB:
But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the [multitude]..
Acts 19:9a NASB20
Men APATHETIC to sound doctrine and truth of the Gospel may claim to be religious men. Stubborn and stiffnecked sinners TURNED AGAINST Christ’s Apostle of Good News and they will turn against YOU as well for your witness of JESUS Christ as your Lord.
Apparent apathy to Christ and disobedience to the very word of God go hand in hand.
“The one who believes in the Son has eternal life;
Gospel of John 3:36
but the one who does not G544 [apeitheō] obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
THREE MONTHS Paul had reasoned with the Ephesian Jews in his manner of quoting Scripture and applying the Old Covenant to their Messiah JESUS. A remnant is saved and follow. The rest will continue in their false faith for refusing to look up to the LORD from the wilderness of their refining.
The heart-hardened enemies of the Gospel murmur to the multitudes against the followers [disciples] of the Way, the Truth and the Life redeemed through Christ our Lord.
DAILY, from the fifth hour to the tenth (that is, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) according to some manuscripts
The lecture hall of Tyrannus is an important place of teaching Roman cultural context in a Roman community of the empire.
21st century believers may not understand the openness in a university-type forum from the teaching and disciples of Paul OR even the Lord Jesus. So in order to understand this PLACE of Paul’s CLASSROOM better we will examine it from the Greek which Luke records in just one of today’s three verses:
ὡς δέ τινες ἐσκληρύνοντο καὶ ἠπείθουν κακολογοῦντες τὴν ὁδὸν ἐνώπιον τοῦ πλήθους ἀποστὰς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀφώρισεν τοὺς μαθητάς καθ᾽ ἡμέραν διαλεγόμενος ἐν τῇ σχολῇ Τυράννου
Acts 19:9 Morphological Greek New Testament
Τύραννος – tyrannos – A provincial form of the derivative of the base of κύριος (G2962)
Its base word and root Christians may recognize but have never considered in this context of first century A.D. controversy in witness to the Gospel in the Roman Empire.
It’s the ‘sovereign school’ OR School of the Sovereign.
Is Paul now teaching in the highest school, so to speak, in Ephesus, an environment we would understand to be a University?
OR
Does the SCHOOL NAME imply a particular Sovereign for whom it is named?
(And, let the hearer understand, Ephesus, like Jerusalem, Corinth or Rome itself has only ONE SOVEREIGN.)
But they cried out,
Away with him, away with him, crucify him.
Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King?
The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
Gospel of John 19:15 King James Version
κύριος – kyrios – Strong’s G2962 – masculine noun From kuros (supremacy)
Lord, Lordship:
properly an adjective, signifying “having power” (kuros) or “authority,” is used as a noun, variously translated in the NT, “‘Lord,’ ‘master,’ ‘Master,’ ‘owner,’ ‘Sir,’ a title of wide significance, occurring in each book of the NT save Titus and the Epistles of John. It is used
Vine’s Expository Dictionary
WHAT DID THE APOSTLE PAUL PREACH IN EPHESUS?
Luke does not say specifically in these four verses, but we must believe that in one form or other that the Apostle proclaims the Gospel, JESUS IS LORD.
Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord G2962 Jesus.
Acts of the Apostles 19:5 NASB20
This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord G2962, both Jews and Greeks.
Acts 19:10 of the Apostle Paul in Ephesus
NEXT: Paul I know…
