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Reviled (λοιδορέω)

“Revile” is to speak in an insulting way towards another.

The Pharisees reviled the blind man that Jesus healed because he questioned if they wanted to become disciples of Christ after they continued to ask him how he was healed, John 9:28. This man was blind from birth and Jesus healed him on the Sabbath as a sign to the Jews that those who do not see will see. After hearing his story, the Pharisees again call him back to recount what happened to them. They revile him because the man who was blind calls them out for not listening to him and the fact that no one has ever been healed in this manner before; therefore, Jesus has to be from God. In response, the Pharisees claim to be Moses’ disciples, insult him, and cast him out of the synagogue.

In Jerusalem, while Paul was being accused by the Jews so that the Romans would put him to death, after stating that he has lived in all good conscience before God, Ananias commanded the ones nearby to strike him. Paul calls him out for his unrighteous action, referring to him as a whitewashed wall. Paul is then rebuked for reviling the High Priest, Acts 23:4. However, Paul was not aware that Ananias was the High Priest at that time and apologetically quotes Scripture, which states they are not to speak bad concerning a ruler of the people, Acts 23:5. Although what Paul stated was not inaccurate, it was intended to be an insult and therefore not appropriate for him to say against the High Priest.

In response to being reviled, Paul speaks well of others, 1 Corinthians 4:11. Just as Christ, when He suffered for righteousness, did […]

Reviled (λοιδορέω)2023-12-23T07:22:36-08:00

Scandalize (σκανδαλίζω)

Scandalize is to shockingly offend a person’s moral sensibility.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of a man scandalizing himself when he looks at a woman for the purpose of desiring her for adultery, for in doing so he has already committed adultery in his heart, Matthew 5:28.  The kingdom of the heavens is what Jesus is preaching. After the Messiah comes, is cut off, the Temple is desecrated by Satan, and the Messiah returns in glory, He sets up a Kingdom that will last for 1000 years, Daniel 9:24-27. In setting up this kingdom, God makes a new covenant with Israel in which He writes His law within their heart, Jeremiah 31:33. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is giving instructions concerning the rules of this kingdom, not for today. This man scandalizes himself because he intentionally violated the law of God that is written in his heart by acting upon a thought to desire another woman by glancing at her for this purpose. Unlike under the Mosaic Law where the act of adultery, which is a sin, would be punished, he is held liable for scandalizing himself by using his members in a way that is contrary to what he knows is right even though the physical act of adultery has not been committed, for sin and scandalizing are not the same thing. This is not referring to today, for we are in a period of time in which we must learn the law of God, which for the Church is to live by grace through faith. Therefore, such desires, although we may strongly desire not to have them, do not scandalize us, for we expect to have to deal with […]

Scandalize (σκανδαλίζω)2023-12-23T11:33:57-08:00

Dealing with Bad Thoughts

A temptation is a solicitation to do wrong. It comes from a desire to perform something that we know is against God’s expectation of us. Understanding how we go from a temptation to sin is important to comprehend in order to stop the process by taking the way of escape before we work out the desire from the temptation. In the book of James, we find the process by which we are solicited and how that temptation works out to sin.

Let no one say when tempted, “I am being tempted from God”. For the God is without temptation of wrong and He tempts no one. But each one is tempted by his own strong desire while being drawn out and baited. Then the strong desire after being conceived, births sin. And the sin, when it is finished, brings forth death – James 1:13-15.

We are first presented with a strong desire to do wrong by one of our three enemies: the sin nature, Satan, or the world system. This temptation has no impact on us until we accept the desire as our own and then choose to perform it. Conception is the combination of a wrong desire and the determination to do it. This is a trespass and always happens within the mind, resulting in a person being in a state of unrighteousness, although sin has not yet happened. Conception does not guarantee birth, but unless it is interrupted it will always result in sin. Once a temptation has become a desire within us that we have determined to fulfill, if we do not apply the truth, the faith, or reject what the world wants, this determination will work out to sin when we perform the […]

Dealing with Bad Thoughts2023-12-14T08:11:01-08:00

To be strengthened (ἐνδυναμόω)

To be strengthened (ἐνδυναμόω) is giving a person the ability or function to do something.

Because Christ manifested Himself to Paul and corrected his path, after spending three years in the desert learning, he returns to Damascus and immediately begins preaching the Messiah is the Son of God. The Jews were astonished that Saul was proclaiming Christ because he was known to be the one who had come to Damascus with orders from the Chief Priests so that he could destroy those who called on the name of Christ. However, Paul was strengthened against their astonishment and confounded them, proving that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and therefore God in the flesh, Acts 9:20-22. Paul did this through the evidence provided in the Old Testament.

Abraham was strengthened in his faith concerning God’s promise of a son, not counting the condition of his own body or the deadness of Sarah’s womb but was fully convinced that God would do what He said He would perform, Romans 4:19-21. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. God strengthened his faith when He rejected Ishmael and informed him that the promise of his seed would come through Sarah.

When it comes to defeating an attack from Satan, we are to be strengthened in the Lord. We are not to try and take him on by our own means or through the traditions of men. Rather, our victory over Satan is in Christ and therefore we need to be strengthened in the Lord as we go into battle against him, Ephesians 6:10. This means we are recognizing the fact that our defense against Satan is because God has taken us out of Adam and placed […]

To be strengthened (ἐνδυναμόω)2023-12-23T11:41:20-08:00

Unrighteousness (ἀδικία)

Unrighteousness (ἀδικία) encompasses both the evil determinations within the mind and the resulting actions that violate standards of right conduct. Therefore, unrighteousness is the bigger term, including both trespasses and sins. A trespass happens within the mind when a determination is made to do something that a person knows is against God’s standard. It is from this desire that sin is birthed, James 1:14-15. Scripture specifically defines sin in 1 John 3:4 as lawlessness and exterior to the body in 1 Corinthians 6:18. Since sins and trespasses are different, for we were dead in both, the trespass happens within the mind when a determination is made to sin and therefore the sin is working out that desire, Ephesians 2:1.

In the first chapter of Romans, we are given a list of unrighteousness. In this list is mental attitudes and actions that are both unrighteous in their nature. “And just as they did not approve worthy to have the God in full experiential knowledge, the God gave them over to an unapproved mind to do what is wrong, being filled up where they lack in all unrighteousness: fornication, malignant evil, covetousness, lacking in character, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, bad character, secret slanderers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, arrogant, inventors of wrong, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, without natural affection, irreconcilable, not merciful.” Romans 1:28-31.

In these last times, there are many false teachers among us who bring in destructive heresies, denying the Lord, 2 Peter 2:1. Their ways are of destruction, they blasphemy the truth and by covetousness exploit with deceptive words, 2 Peter 2:2-3. Many of these go after the way of Balaam, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 2 Peter 2:15, which is the willingness to manipulate Christians into […]

Unrighteousness (ἀδικία)2023-12-23T11:44:14-08:00
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