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Tag: sins

3 Letters from the Apostle John
The world cannot think of John without a picture of a young man next to JESUS who wrote,“God so loved the world…”

Or Christians perhaps recall the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John on Patmos with little consideration of his age or the path of the Apostle leading him to this isolated Greek island.

Three intimate letters to believers
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The A.D. 90's - the END of an era 
— JOHN's Apostolic love and truth for fidelity in the faith. 
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The Elder John writes three letters — along with Jude, the LAST EPISTLES of the New Testament.

Although our focus will be 2 John and 3 John, I will include 1 John in this overview written about the same time.

In order to set the cultural stage of the Church enduring beyond the end of the A.D. first century, consider that the Elder writes his 3 Epistles some sixty years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Introduction to an Era not unlike our own:

INTRO – MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY 1-3 JOHN

quoting Donald W Burdick

Apart from the Judaeo-Christian sphere, the world was religiously inclusivistic. There was always room for a new religion, provided of course that it was not of an exclusive nature. Syncretism[‘s].. characteristic expression was in the combination of various ideas and beliefs from different sources to form new or aberrant religions. This was the age of of the developing mystery religions, the age of the occult, ane age of the proliferation of Gnostic sects.

MACARTHUR Commentary 1-3 John, p.1

Recall from Acts how the young Apostle Jesus loved also preached the Gospel of our risen Lord boldly along with Simon Peter in the Temple. But that was about sixty years ago .

In the year of our Lord 90

(approximately)
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Keep in mind that ALL dates used for comparison to various 1st c. events are approximate, but reveal a chronology of John's life.
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- John’s own Gospel account of the events of JESUS’s incarnate life had already been written and distributed to the churches some five to ten years ago.
- Mark, Matthew and Luke had written and sent out their Gospel’s some thirty years before, back in the 50’s and 60’s.
- Several missionary journeys of the Paul (begun in A.D. 47) along with many others had concluded prior to the Apostle’s death along with Peter in Rome [~ A.D. 66] also some twenty to thirty years before these final epistles of John.
  - Paul had founded this church in Ephesus where John now serves as an Elder.
  - Paul had written to it as well some forty years before, back in the early A.D. 60’s.
Rome had political problems of its own.

In addition to putting down a Jewish revolt in Jerusalem [A.D. 66] and destroying the Temple [A.D. 70], the Caesar’s frequently blamed and banished Christians for their political problems in Rome and other cities of the Empire.

An Apostolic Dogma of John
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The 21st c. Common Era church speaks so little of dogma that I must define it. 
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Dogma – 1. A doctrine or a corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a religion.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

This is what I refer to as Apostolic Faith, which includes all Apostolic authority continuing through Scripture to this day.
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Referring to the "we" statements of 1 John, the author speaks on behalf of the Twelve." 

John Stott observes: 
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He does not hesitate to call certain classes of people liars, deceivers or antichrists. .. they either have God or have not, know God or do not, have live or abide in death, walk in darkness or in the light, are children of God or children of the devil.

This dogmatic authority of the writer is seen particularly in his statements and in his commands.

John Stott commentary, quoted by MacArthur, p.4

a culture combining aberrant and mystery religions
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Stick with me on some abridged definitions for your understanding of the A.D. 1st century, (again, not so unlike our 21st century of the Common Era).
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- syncretism –
  - .. fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, ..the result is heterogeneous – AHD
- aberrant –
  - 3. straying from the right way – AHD
- mystery religions – (What typifies them?)
  - any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions.
  - .. initiation in Greece became a matter of personal choice.
  - The mystery religions reached their peak of popularity in the first three centuries a.d. Their origin, however, goes back to the earlier centuries of Greek history.
    
    Source: Britannica
The DANGER of gnostics!

For those of you who really don’t know much about false religions, before we begin John’s three strongly-worded epistles, I need to define this great threat to the Church — gnosticism.

of a person (25 terms) gnostic 1607–
Historical. (With capital initial.) Chiefly plural.

The designation given to certain heretical sects among the early Christians who claimed to…

source: OED

Until fairly recently the term was generally applied collectively to the majority of those 2nd cent. movements which called themselves Christian or borrows heavily from Christian sources, but which were rejected by the main stream of Christian tradition.

more..

.. Gnostic systems which make testing intellectual demands, others which depend on mumbo-jumbo and sleight of hand.

.. high-minded ascetic, and others who are licentious charlatans.

“GNOSTICISM” – Tenney Encyclopedia of the Bible, pub. ZONDERVAN, vol.2, p.736-739

The gnostic doctrine of God

Gnostics borrowed from the anti-christian philosophers:
- ‘that God is so utterly transcendent that He can have no direct contact with the world;
- and can have no contact with God..’
- THEREFORE, they conclude:
- ‘Man is thus a creature of mixed origin, a mixture of incompatibles.
- Christianity is ‘self-condemned:’
..the claim that God became man is impossible, since God and Matter could not mix.

ibid. p.736

God is conceived as remote from all material creation..

If God’s transcendence implies the impossibility of His contact with matter, how could God take a human body —(*that of Christ, whom the gnostics oppose) — still less suffer in one?

ibid. p.737

John’s opposition to developing heresies

Various heresies of the A.D. first century antichrists creeping into the houses of worship in various places led John to write his epistles to the faithful who believed his Gospel of the the Lord Jesus Christ. The Elder’s purpose in writing is to urge the faithful to REJECT false gospels, false philosophies cloaked in christian garments and especially to send away FALSE teachers.

MacArthur continues in his commentary on 1 John 1-4:

He [the Elder John] clearly expected his readers to obey his commands unquestioningly. Only an apostle, known and respected by those whom he addressed, could have written such an authoritative letter and not given his name.

ibid. p.5

John’s first epistle clearly calls on those under his Apostolic authority to apply the test of faith he puts forth and to obey his commands of how to deal with these liars, deceivers and antichrists bringing false faith into the practices of their gatherings and worship.

The Elder’s second and third epistles, the shortest of John’s letters (other than the brief tests revealed to the 7 churches in his apocalypse) addresses certain faithful leaders of the Church more personally with specific individual instructions.

Key Scriptures from Epistles of the Elder

John will reiterate some of his purpose in writing in his second and third Epistles, the focus of our Apostolic look at his last letters. The partial list from 1 John provides a larger context for the Apostle’s last two letters near the end of the A.D. first century.

the First Letter of John the Elder and Apostle of Jesus Christ

Key verses from 1 John
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1 John 1:3-5,9; 2:1,10-11,15,18,26,28-29; 3:5-6,8,18; 4:3-4,10,19; 5:1,13,18-19
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This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 Letter of John 1:5 ESV

Do you want to know IF someone truly believes that JESUS Christ is the Lord — the only Son of God?

Without introduction, the Elder John writes to the Church in his own Apostolic authority with two tests for the saints of God to know if another has fellowship with God — the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
1. Belief in God
  - .. if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
    
    1 John 1:7 (and in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 5:8)
2. Certainty of Sin
  - If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
    
    1 John 8
  - If we confess our sins, he is faithful..
    
    1 John 9a
If we say we have not sinned, we make him [Jesus Christ] a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:10 ESV

John provides a plumb line to delineate true faith in Christ.

The beloved Apostle makes clear that those who claim falsely to have no sin, ‘lie and do not practice the truth,’ a direct affront on the claim of some that the body can sin while the spirit separately remains pure.

Fellowship

Love and fellowship permeate the Apostle’s larger focus not only in John’s Gospel, but in the 3 Letters from the Elder as well.

κοινωνία – koinōnia is the share which one has in anything, participation; intercourse (between loved ones, but not eros), fellowship (between near friends), intimacy (as that of family members who live lovingly together with each other).

BluueLetteBible.org – Strong’s G2842 – koinōnia *with parenthetical clarity added by RH

What does this mean in relation to God?

Perfect PERSONAL fellowship of the One Triune GOD in the Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Fellowship between the Father and the Son.

Fellowship between believers and the Holy Spirit.

AND within the Church — the Body of Christ — fellowship of personal relationship in the love of the Light of life, our Lord Jesus Christ.

John, in the authority of Christ, sows the seeds of the Father’s love given in the Person of the Son redeeming us from our sins.

Do not love [agapaō] the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ..the world is passing away along with its desires,

but whoever does the will of God [theos] abides forever.

1 John 2:15,17 ESV

The Apostle urges a fellowship with the loving Person of the Father, not simply an acknowledgment of God, Who IS forever.

Have fellowship with God.. and fellowship with Light.. fellowship AND love [agapaō & phileō]…

Obey God, because of His love for you and His holy ones..

Propitiation of a Personal God
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Propitiation would seem to be a technical theological term unfamiliar to many Common Era Christians. 
The concept is important.. and not so difficult. 
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ἱλασμός – hilasmos –

from a Greek root word found only in John’s first letter

– English translations: propitiation, the sacrifice that atones, atoning sacrifice, expiation, sacrifice to take away

Christ’s love for His Church.

The ‘one Jesus loved’ (the Elder’s own self-identification) instructs believers in how to relate to God as your personal loving God, as John himself had experienced God in Jesus Christ.

Herein is love [agapē],
not that we loved God,
but that he loved us,
and sent his Son
to be the propitiation
for our sins.
1 John 4:10 KJV

What human father would do that?

Is OUR love of God the reason Christ became the propitiation for our sins and the sins of the world? NO!

It is the LOVE — agapē — of our Father in heaven, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father who in His love for us Personally sacrificed Jesus to the Cross for the price of our sins.

Jesus is The Christ!

Therefore, in light of the cultural challenges we introduced as an impetus for the Elder’s epistles, John calls on the Church to identify antichrists among us — that is, heretics and gnostics.
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We will not again address end times today as before.
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7 Epistles of John with the same Revelation

The Elder addresses his beloved saints in Ephesus (and other churches):

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come,

even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

First Epistle of John 2:19-20.22 King James Version
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Now don't go calling any of your questionable 'christian' colleagues, 'antichrists.' 
The Elder explains why some saints will sit under Godly teaching while others listen only for a time they hope to influence the body.. and then leave the church. 
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‘Do Not Love the World,’ ‘Beware of Antichrists,’ and ‘Remain in Christ,’ read the subheadings for these.

Behold what manner of love..

We recognize this same Apostle once nearest to Jesus as the Elder now embraces his fellow saints with the same concern for their souls as Christ held for His Disciples.

Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.

1 John 3:1-2a BSB

‘You know that he [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin,’ John reminds [ESV].

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning..

1 John 3:6a ESV

The Elder then continues in his delineation between the saints of Jesus and antichrists of the devil:

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:

whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

1 John 3:10 ESV

the Elder’s foundational exhortation of his epistle

My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue;
but in deed and in truth.
1 letter of John 3:18 KJV

On Denying the Incarnation

This heading from the NIV addresses John’s concern for the saints holding fast to the truth of the Gospel in the recognition of the false teachers of tolerant gnosticism, inclusivist universalism and other antichrists posing as the godly.

Dear friends,

do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God:

Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

1 John 4:1-3 NIV

John comforts: ‘You, dear children, are from God.. [v.4] and warns:

They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.

1 John 4:5 NIV

Of course the world entangled in sin will neither accept the Truth of Christ or His Incarnation and return in a final Judgment.

Herein is love.. agapaō

In this is love, not that we have loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins...

We love,
because He first loved us.
1 John 4:10,19 LSB

John’s Conclusion to his First Letter

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.

We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.

1 John 5:1,19 BSB

That is, proclaims the Elder: Jesus Christ, the Son of Man and Son of God, protects you, beloved saint and holy one of His, from Satan and the anti-christs of this passing world.

Next: the last 2 of 3 letters
April 20, 2026
Leviticus – Preparation of a Priest for the Sacrifice
SEALED within the Ark of the Covenant as testimony of the LORD on Sinai — the TEN WORDS –– written in Exodus and Deuteronomy as you know, but also referenced in Leviticus.

The Office of Priest – כָּהַן

“So the priest who is anointed and ordained to minister^H3547 as^H3547 a^H3547 priest^H3547 in his father’s place shall make atonement:

he shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments, and make atonement for the holy sanctuary,

and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting

and for the altar.

He shall also make atonement for the priests

and for all the people of the assembly.

16:32-33 וַיִּקְרָא

Who would know more about the Altar of Sacrifice than the Priest appointed to the atonement for all worshipers of the LORD?

The LORD established certain laws of holiness for the priests in addition to the Commandments of the LORD for His chosen people.

“Then you shall bring the bull near before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. “You shall slaughter the bull before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

… it is a sin offering.

Exodus 29:10-11,14b LSB

“For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and set it apart as holy; then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy.

.. lambs each day, continuously.

Exodus 29:37,38b LSB

atonement כָּפַר

כָּפַר kâphar, kaw-far’; a primitive root; to cover (specifically with bitumen);
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Bitumen, also known as mineral tar, is derived from the partial distillation of crude petroleum. - source 
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figuratively, to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel:—appease, make (an atonement, cleanse, disannul, forgive, be merciful, pacify, pardon, purge (away), put off, (make) reconcile(-liation).

Strong’s H3722 – kāp̄ar

‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by the [soul] life.’
Leviticus 17:11 LSB

Picture it: a Priest standing between the HOLINESS of God and the Altar upon which your sins have been covered with blood of the sacrifice and the remains burned beyond recognition.

“According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall make it.

Exodus 25:9 LSB

a Blueprint for the Place of Sacrifice and Worship

Exodus 25 CSB
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A brief look at the LORD's instructions for building the Tabernacle (LIST from the CSB should help us visualize it in contemporary terms and measurements.) 

8 “They are to make a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them.
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- 10 “They are to make an ark of acacia wood, forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.
- Overlay it with pure gold; overlay it both inside and out. Also make a gold molding all around it. 12 Cast four gold rings for it..
- 14 Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark in order to carry the ark with them.
- 14 Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark in order to carry the ark with them.
- 17 Make a mercy seat of pure gold, forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide.
- 18 Make two cherubim of gold; make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.
- 21 Set the mercy seat on top of the ark and put the tablets of the testimony that I will give you into the ark. 22 I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony; I will speak with you from there about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.
IT IS A MOST HOLY PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH!

Table for the Ark of the Covenant
- 23 “You are to construct a table of acacia wood, thirty-six inches long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.
- 31 “Youa are to make a lampstand out of pure, hammered gold.. 37“Make its seven lamps,and set them up so that they illuminate the area in front of it.
- 26:1 “You are to construct the tabernacle itself with ten curtains.. 2 Each curtain should be forty-two feet long and six feet wide;
- 7 “You are to make curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tabernacle; make eleven of these curtains. 8 Each curtain should be forty-five feet long and six feet wide.
- 15 “You are to make upright supports of acacia wood for the tabernacle. Each support is to be fifteen feet long and twenty-seven inches wide.
- 31 “You are to make a curtain .. bring the ark of the testimony there behind the curtain, so the curtain will make a separation for you between the holy place and the most holy place.
- 34 Put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.
- 35 Place the table outside the curtain.. 36 “For the entrance to the tent you are to make a screen…
Community Worship outside the HOLY Tabernacle
- Exodus 27:1 You are to construct the altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, 7 1/2 feet long, and 7 1/2 feet wide; it must be 4 1/2 feet high. 2 Make horns for it on its four corners..
- 9 “You are to make the courtyard for the tabernacle. Make hangings for.. the courtyard out of finely spun linen, 150 feet long.. 12 For the width of the courtyard, make hangings 75 feet long,, 14 make hangings 22 1/2 feet long for [each] side of the gate,
- 16 The gate of the courtyard is to have a 30-foot screen
- 18 The courtyard is to be 150 feet long, 75 feet wide at each end, and 7 1/2 feet high..
- 21 In the tent of meeting outside the curtain that is in front of the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamp from evening until morning before the Lord.
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In addition to these for the place of worship, Exodus provides instructions related to worship and the Priests, followed by a book with more detail. 
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Leviticus – Prescription for Perfect Worship, Priestly Requirements

Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them:

Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

—Leviticus 19:2

Observe the progressive path of worship established between the people worshiping the Lord our God from beyond the tent of meeting, to the altar of sacrifice, into the more holy hidden places and before the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat and the Very Presence of the LORD — and again, atonement from the LORD via the Priest to the tent of meeting.

No man should know the significance of the sacrifice — and atonement — more than the Priest.

Think about his separation of holiness from the everyday people as you view the priests preparing for worship. Let’s look at a few of the requirements from their prescriptive handbook.

וַיִּקְרָא אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֵלָיו מֵאֹהֶל מֹועֵד לֵאמֹר׃

וַיִּקְרָא (Leviticus) 1:1 WLC

priest – kōhēn- כֹּהֵן
1. Instructions for Burnt offerings
2. Grain offerings
3. Peace offerings
4. Sin offerings
5. Guilt offerings
Moral and ethical laws

Holiness

Blessings and curses

Vows
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and much more... 
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A Levitical Outline for Priests
- True worship requires priests set apart in holiness
And Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation…

And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them.

Leviticus 8:4,10 KJV

And he brought the people’s offering, and took the goat, which was the sin offering for the people, and slew it, and offered it for sin, as the first.

Leviticus 9:15 KJV
- True worship requires people set apart in purity
“When a case of serious skin disease may have developed on a person, he is to be brought to the priest.

Leviticus 13:9 CSB
- True worship requires propitiation in blood
Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the LORD, and died; and the LORD said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

Leviticus 16:1-2 NKJV

“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.

Leviticus 16:15 NKJV
- True worship requires people set apart in purity
- True worship requires priests set apart in holiness
- True worship requires prescribed sacred feasts and offerings
  - Does even the most liberal of Common Era christian churches dare ignore a Holy Week or Easter Sunday? YET do we observe any fasts of preparation?
- True worship requires proper fidelity to Yahweh as a nation and personal fidelity to one’s pledge
Preparation of a Perfect High Priest

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying,

“Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Gospel of Matthew 26:26-28 ESV

Preparation of a High Priestly Prayer

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,

“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent…

Gospel of John 17:1-3 ESV

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.

John 18:1 ESV

Garden of Gethsemane

Lent 2025 C.E. – a time for contrition

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
March 28, 2025
The Lame Walk a Sign from God
A Sign of Faith in Capernaum

~A.D. 27 – Jesus in Galilee

“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
Gospel of Luke 5:43 LSB

“But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—

“I say to you, get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home.”
Good News of Luke 5:44

Of course, a paralyzed man obeying Jesus’ command to ‘get up and walk’ is a miracle to the man who can now stand up and walk AND a sign of God to those who witness it!

Who can say such a thing to one born handicapped?

And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. And astonishment seized them all and they began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying,

“We have seen remarkable things today.”

But this was a sign to the Jews.

Luke records [5:17]:
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And it happened that one day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.
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After having healed others as well Jesus answered the Prophet John who had been baptizing in the wilderness of Judea with Good News sent by his messengers:
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“Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. 

Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” - Gospel of Luke 7:22b-23, LSB
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But of course, these signs from the LORD God to the Jews were done by JESUS the Messiah.

These signs for the Jews where witnessed in regions of Roman Syria AND that had been years ago.

It’s about two decades later that Paul and Barnabas will enter Lystra.

A.D. 30’s – The Apostle Peter

We are Beggars in the House of God

But when Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him, he said, “Look at us!” – Acts 3:4

And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. And leaping up, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were recognizing him, that he was the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. – Acts of the Apostles 3:

More recent signs from God
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Keep in mind that Luke's two-part account of these events is recorded for a Roman-Hellenist world after A.D. 60, 
+ some thirty years after Jesus' resurrection [~A.D. 30],
+ perhaps twenty-five years after Saul's encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus,
+ about seven years [~A.D. 40] after the Apostle Peter baptizes a Roman Centurion in Caesarea Syria.
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No Longer Paralyzed: Walking in Lydda

And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise up and make your bed.” Immediately he rose up. – Acts 9:

And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
Acts of the Apostles 9:35 LSB

The Gospel of an Angel to Cornelius

Roman Caesarea [pictured] where Peter baptized Roman believers who received the Holy Spirit!

And what had Peter heard from the angel of God?

“Get up..”

ἀνίστημι – anistēmi

It’s a command of some significance — a command by faith also used by Peter and the Lord Jesus. And it is part of what the Apostle Paul is about to say to the lame man in Lystra.
- to rise, stand up
  1. of persons lying down, of persons lying on the ground
  2. of persons seated
  3. of those who leave a place to go elsewhere [of those who prepare themselves for a journey]
  4. of the dead
GOD’S signs have many witnesses among the gentiles by the time Barnabas and Saul enter Lystra.

~A.D. 48 –

In Lystra The Lame Walk!

Acts of Faith in Lystra 14:

And at Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.

This man listened to Paul as he spoke, who, when he fixed his gaze on him and saw that he had faith to be [made well] said with a loud voice,

“Stand upright on your feet.”
Acts 14:10 of Paul commanding a lame man in Lystra

And he leaped up and began to walk.

And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language,

“The gods have become like men and have come down to us.”
Acts of the Apostles 14:11b – LSB

In fact, these Lycaonian pagans were partially right.

For the Gospel of Paul and Barnabas would reveal that the One God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ sent his only Son down to us for redemption of sins for those who have faith to believe — even pagan gentiles.

“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
Gospel of Luke 5:43 LSB

Acts of the Apostles in Lystra — To be continued…
November 17, 2022