Romans 1: 16-17
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Habakkuk 2: 4
"See, he is puffed up;
his desires are not upright-
but the righteous will live by his faith”
A current struggle of mine has been wrestling with the divisions that occur between Jews and Christians, which faithful believers in Christ will react with grace, mercy & peace and not violent Hitleresque behavior. And this, struggle of mine, is no doubt linked to Mel Gibson’s movie which has received a great deal of media & blog attention. Being Christian and wanting to not only support a Christian endeavor into an arena that is more often then not devoid of morality, I wanted to visually experience what Jesus Christ went through to bring me greater understanding of the cost of grace. A common thought for me throughout the movie was, “It should have been me”. I saw the movie for the first time with some friends, one of which was my pastor who said, “I knew that grace was free, but I had no idea it cost soo much”.
I have heard and read many charges about the movie being anti-Semitic; without backing it up with much else other than the accusation. The first argument that I could actually respect regarding the movie was found on certain sections of The Jewish Passion (provided by Greg) These arguments are scripturally based and actually meet the bases of the movie (The New (Greek) Testament) on similar terms. While I respectfully disagree with the assertions of Jesus not being the Messiah, at least the assertions are based on Scripture, unlike the New Yorker Review.
These assertions have challenged me though and for that I am thankful. They have also grown my desire to understand Judaism as the foundation to my Christian belief. Providentially, some of these issues arose in Sunday School and Worship yesterday.
2 John
The blessing of grace, mercy and peace will be given to those that believe in Jesus Christ through truth and love. To walk in love is to obey His commands and deceit is found in those “who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh”.
John 5: 16 – 30, 45-47
Jesus repeatedly says “I tell you the truth” and affirms that belief in Him is belief in God the Father, which gives eternal life. He goes on to say that judgment is not based on His accusations, but the accusations of Mosaic Law.
This truth is the foundation of the Christian faith and it is by this faith alone do we live. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law, the only one who has not “turned away” (Romans 3-18, Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccles 7:20).
It is my prayer in offering up the grace, mercy, peace & love that has been freely given to me in Christ, that our Father will bring his “old covenant” followers under the blood of Christ and they will believe and acknowledge their need for grace and faith alone.
Here are some articles on God’s election and its Old Testament foundation:
An Examination of the Five Points of Calvinism - Part II: Unconditional Election - Brian Schwertley
The Five Points of Calvinism - Part 3 - R. L. Dabney