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Thanks John, that was very kind of you.
And while this was not exactly what I had in mind,
you are certainly on the mark: it works here too.
Blessings,
Bill
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 10:45
PM
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] Toward a
(biblical) Unilateral Covenant
In regard to BillyT and his commentary on
unilateral and bi-lateral..
Bll writes: "And so we see that the
movement of God's reconciling love toward Israel not only revealed Israel's
sin but intensified it."
Bill probably did not have the following in
mind, but this confirming thought came to my pea-brained
attention.
When Jesus presented what we call the
Sermon on the Mount, he fulfilled a purpose that is very much in line with
this notion of "intensification." At least to me. If
the law was difficult to keep before the sermon, it was nearly impossible to
keep afterwards. He speaks of cutting off your offending
hand, plucking out the lustful eye. He expands the law from what is said
and done to what is simply thought. He stresses maturity on the
level of the Heavenly Father. He argues against self defense (turn the
other cheek), giving to others without personal provision, offering
voluntary service upon that which is required. He proclaims that temper
will find one in the fires of the trash heap. He orders anonymous
giving, private prayer, joyful fasting,
Christ takes the Law and
intensifies it requirements -- to the point of near
impossibility. In fact, I have yet to meet the man or woman
who measures up to this sermon in every aspect. If
this is the measure of our judgment, how great must be the blessings of that
covenant made so many years before !! Man is not fully reconciled
to God until man is broken of his self-aggrandizing spirit and fully
surrendered to a God who demands perfection while granting redemption all in
the same breath. For me, the life of Christ undermines all
my excuses and reasoned theology while His death is the ultimate act of
reconciliation.
Until sin is intensified in our lives to the point of
true awareness, the opportunity for full appreciation is not
present. And until we come to see the unilateral activity of God
in Christ, Him doing what we cannot do for ourselves, there is no dynamic and
vital reason for acting out our faith -- there is no real
sense of partnership with the Divine.
Bill's commentary
has put this lesson in the only context that works for me. A
teaching is always "masterful" when it puts you mind of the Author and
Finisher of our faith.
John
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