Four Gospels

A commentary on part of the four gospels course. For whoever has taken this course I hope you will find this short Bible study edifying. For those who have not I hope you also find it useful. This courses main reference was from a book called the Unvarnished Gospels which I will not refer to. I have chosen to use a New American Standard Bible. Use whatever one you wish. The author of this course made mention of a passage in Matthew 9:14-17. For ease of instruction the words of Jesus are all in red. "The disciples of John came to Him (Jesus), asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. But no one puts a patch of un-shrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do people put new wine into old wine skins; otherwise the wine skins burst, and the wine pours out and the wine skins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved." It is here that the author of the course is hoping to use this as a forum conversation starter. So I think I will try to take him up on his offer. Whoever wants to add in on the subject please feel free even if it is to tell me I don't know what I am talking about, but this is somewhat how a preacher explained this in a sermon I heard long ago and it has directed be ever since how I read my Bible. The question the 4 gospels author is asking is, does this mean you can't teach an old dog new tricks? He doesn't seem to think so but it is a good base question to start with. This parables theme seems to be saying "Out with the old and in with the new." Here is how I understand it. In Christ we are a brand new creation. The old man is buried with Christ to be raised again a new man. Every now and then the old man likes to pop up and we need to metaphorically beat him on the head to put him back in the grave. 　 Scriptural support. Romans 6:3-11 (Read the whole chapter to get a better picture.) "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in the newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin." Philippians 3:21 "Jesus Christ…who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory…" Here we have it painted quite clearly. Our old lives are buried. This is the meaning of baptism. Our old self in a tomb and raised again in Christ. One might deduce the wine skins being spoken of in this parable would mean us. I will get back to this point later on. Now what is the wine? Acts 2:4 is the day of Pentecost when everyone in the upper room was filled with the Holy Spirit. Later on in the same chapter in vs13 when they were speaking in tongues and being full of the Holy Spirit some mocked them saying they are full of "sweet wine" or as other translations of the Bible render this "new wine." The Holy Spirit in many cases in the Bible is compared to wine. Ephesians 5:18 "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit…" In Numbers 6:2-3 in the case of taking a Nazirite vow it says "he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes." What is Numbers 6 saying here? It is saying if you want to live a life of not just devotion to God but separation to God your partying and carousing days are over. Nowadays unless for other purposes I wouldn't take it so far as to abstain from a little alcohol but what is being said here is don't even have a hint of worldly influence in you. Leave room for the Holy Spirit to work in you by abstaining from impurities and evil. I am not saying drinking is evil, but I sure wouldn't want to get liquored up on a Sunday morning and go to church claiming to be Spirit filled. The same goes for sexual immorality. Do not be under the influence of the world here is the message and even think you can serve God. Samson in the book of Judges could not drink alcohol or any other fermented drink because of the Holy Spirit stirring in Him. Not that he was known for obeying the rules but this one I believe he respected. But the message of this study is the wine and the wine skins. I would strongly say the Wine spoken of in Matthew 9 is the Holy Spirit that God promised through the prophet Joel in chapter 2 vs23. "So rejoice O sons of Zion, and be glad in the LORD your God; For He has given you the early rain for your vindication. And He has poured down for you the rain. The early and latter rain as before. The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil." Then later in in vs. 28-29 he prophesies "It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days." The Holy Spirit is the new wine and the oil. Read Matt 25 for how the Holy Spirit is the oil. All the virgins had lamps which is the word of God but some of them didn't have any oil. The Holy Spirit is what illuminates and brings to life. It instructs, it guides and teaches. It is our anointing. It is our promise given to us of Christ's return. 1 John 2:26-27 - The Holy Spirit is our anointing; our instructor. John 16 - He is the Spirit of truth that reveals to us what we need. By the way as a side note. If you want to read a gospel that brings to light the deity of Jesus and what we have in Him through the Holy Spirit He sends read John. Eph 1:13 - The Holy Spirit is our seal/pledge. We have all as Christians been sealed with it for the day of redemption. Let us only by the strength Jesus brings us submit to Him daily through prayer that we might not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus is the one who brings us this Holy Spirit. John 14:16-17 - "I will ask the Father and He will give you ANOTHER helper, that He may be with your forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you." 　 John 2 is the first miracle Jesus performed. The miracle at Cana. Here He took ordinary water and turned it into wine that was better than what any man could make. Even the headwaiter exclaimed "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." Jesus makes the old like new again. We are the wineskin and he fills us up with the wine. But as John 2:26-27 says we cannot be filled with the wine if we are of the world or still the old man, decaying and dying. Titus 3:5 "He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." A sign of coming out of the world and into the new family of Jesus is the taming of the tongue. James 3 says "The tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity…the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell." James is making it sound very dismal. Who can control the tongue but God? We must therefore as put so well in Romans 6:12-13 "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." And there you have it! I totally did not mean to write a sermon on Christian living, but if you are looking for the signs of God living in you and that you are submitting yourself to God and resisting the devil then this is part of what needs to happen. I am by no means saying this happens on our strength. I have been a Christian since I was a child. I have never known anything else. But at a point I fell away sort of. I presented by tongue and my body as instruments of unrighteousness and I had to say to God "Something just isn't working here. I need the Spirit of regeneration working in me like it did before." Then along came a change in my attitudes; desires and the strength of God came more and more into my life. We are all people in process. Only those who have died are free from sin. But we must never give up submitting to God. In Acts 10 Peter proclaimed the gospel message to the Gentiles, and as they heard this message. As this truth sank into their mind and their souls they became filled with the Holy Spirit. Then it was after this they were baptized with water. I use this verse for anyone who tells me a Christian is not spirit filled until they receive the water baptism for it was not before but after receiving the Holy Spirits baptism were the gentiles then baptised with water. And they were baptised into the name of Jesus Christ. Now assuming the reader of this is a Christian and wants to know more about the baptism of the Holy Spirit here is how I think of it as being. When you became a Christian you got a life saving drink of water. You were dying in the desert of your own sin. Along comes Jesus and says have a drink. Now that you have had a drink of water and have been partially filled you want more and more and more. You realise you cannot live the Christian life on your own power. If you are a pastor who has not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit you will one day out of humility ask God out of humility to fill your sermons and your ministry because you will finally realise you cannot do it on your own. Here comes a full blast of the Holy Spirit filling you right up. John 7:37-38 "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said 'from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" In vs. 39 the writer says "But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." If you want the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Talk to a pastor about it if you want, but I say unplug your phone and your TV set. Turn off your computer and pray and ask God for it. You have a heavenly Father who will not give you a scorpion if you ask for an egg or a snake if they ask for a fish. You have a perfect heavenly Father who wants to set your life on fire with His Holy Spirit so he can live out His desires through you. Not through forcefulness but by you submitting to Him. If the reader of this is not a Christian. I am telling you there is no better life than the Christian life. If anyone disputes that I and many other spirit filled Christians have a testimony that proves otherwise. You might be putting it off for whatever reason but in this case there is no time like the present. Please share your thoughts on the forum or contact me at justpray@hotmail.ca Colin. ******************************* The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary. Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Four Gospels

Four Gospels

In the discussion of the works of Luke the point is made that Matthew and Luke differed somewhat in their perspectives of Jesus. The difference discussed in one lesson states that Matthew who apparently had real time contact with Jesus saw Him acting and or reacting as most of us would. In other words he shows signs of losing his temper, suffering pangs of hunger as well as appreciating things of beauty.

Luke on the other hand did not see this regular human side of Jesus. He apparently has a differing view of the nature of Christ. He seems to believe that Jesus acted in a less human but more godlike manner in his dealings with people and situations.

This is understandable if one agrees with the idea that people want to see their heroes as Superheroes and their villains as really vile and terrible entities. And because this is so, this may explain why Luke did not want to see Jesus with any foibles or flaws. So perhaps he tried to erase any quirks or mannerisms that he felt did not suit his vision of Jesus Christ. Did he do this deliberately? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

History has been written and rewritten so many times that we do not know the truth of what really happened, when it happened, why it happened or where it happened. This seems a logical explanation of Luke’s vision of Christ. It appears that Luke may have needed a more spiritual, less human type of Savior.

Again, we must remember that the human psyche does play a role in how one accepts Jesus; how one tends to envision his

personality and how we then use that acceptance, that vision in our daily life and how we use it in the practice of our spiritual life.

Therefore whether we want a more earthy type of Savior or a more angelic, ethereal personage will influence which of these two gospels we are more apt to believe and in which we put our faith .

So does it really matter to each of us in our quest for salvation that there seems to be differences of opinion among those earlier followers of Jesus of Nazareth? If it really does matter, then does that not tell us more about our own beliefs and our own needs for understanding Jesus according to those needs? No, it does not matter one iota. What really matters is that we do believe in Jesus Christ the Savior.

By Peggy

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. 

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.We also offer many free wedding ceremonies for your use.

 

The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.  
 

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Four Gospels

The Fig Tree, the Vineyard and God, the Farmer

Katherine MacDowell, M.Ed.

When considering what topic to focus on after exploring The Unvarnished Gospels and the course study notes, I found myself returning to the Gospel of John’s chapter 15, which demonstrates a fascinating theological linkage between all three prior gospels’ use of the God the sower/farmer, vineyard, and fig tree parables and events. In John, Jesus states:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Each branch of me that bears no fruit, He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He cleans so it will bear more fruit….If someone doesn’t remain in me, he’s already thrown out and withered like the branches which are collected and thrown into the fire and burned.

One of the more confusing passages in the gospels occurs in Mark when Jesus comes to the fig tree just outside of Jerusalem and curses it when he finds it has no fruit and he is hungry. The passage acknowledges that it is not fig season, so it makes little sense that Jesus would have been surprised to find the fig tree not bearing fruit given the emphasis on agrarian knowledge of his time and the internal emphasis on agrarian cycles within the gospels themselves. As such this passage must either assume the reader holds prior theological information about the Jesus and his relationship to fruit-bearing trees or later gospel writers sought to elaborate on Jesus’ inconsistent and petulant behavior. Here we can begin our journey in Matthew.

Chapter 24 indicates there is a lesson to be learned of the fig tree, whereby the fig tree is utilized to teach the disciples how to recognize the presence of God and His judgment. Here, God is likened to the cycle of spring and summer, reflecting bounty, nourishment, and harvest. In this capacity, Jesus is assuring his disciples that, not only are they learning the natural signs of God, but that when God does appear in judgment it is a time of abundance and bounty. It is a fruit-bearing time (at least for those who know the signs). If we interpret Mark through Matthew’s fig lesson elaboration, we can suggest that Jerusalem is not in season. It is not a place where God’s presence is ready to flourish and indeed, Jesus curses the tree so that it can never bear fruit. Given the fruit and flourishing reflect the presence of God nourishing those who receive Him, one way of interpreting this passage is as a reflection of God withholding His nourishment from Jerusalem. Given the gospel writers were writing after the final destruction of temple of Jerusalem by Rome, early Christians likely utilized these events as support for their belief in their new covenant with God

Yet this passage becomes even more complex as we explore the parables of the vineyards within Luke and Matthew. In both of these texts, Jesus likens God as the owner of a vineyard. The Vineyard is leased to the Jewish people (it cannot be interpreted as humanity at large as there is a distinct relationship of a contract or bond between the Vineyard owner and the tenants) who become unruly and unfaithful tenants, failing to live up to the contract or more accurately the covenant, becoming consumed with the need to possess all the wealth of the vineyard for themselves (a criticism that Jesus lays at the feet of the Pharisees). The servants are sent (likely contemporary prophets of Jesus such as John the Baptist) are beaten and killed. The vineyard owner then chooses to send his beloved son in the hopes that they will respect the heir, but they murder. In this capacity, the fig tree (a creation of God) of Jerusalem withholds its fruit from Jesus, denying him his rightful place as the farmer’s son. As such, Jesus, in his more sword-wielding role described in the texts when referring to the rapture, condemns the fig to wither and die (where its use becomes that of fire wood—recalling the themes of being cast into Gehenna). Thus we may also look at the Fig Tree incident as Jesus being revealed as the sword of God, the one who comes to deliver wrath (here I cannot help but be reminded of Steinback’s Grapes of Wrath). Thus we see Jesus theologically revealed not only as the passive sacrificial lamb, the final lamb of Passover to be sacrificed to God to reestablish the new covenant, but we see him as the lion that the Book of Revelations will eventually focus on. Jesus is both passive and submitting to God’s will; but when it comes to the will of man, Jesus is not submissive. Thus as John states, Jesus takes away the non-fruit–bearing tree of Jerusalem as God’s stand-in: the son who returns to the vineyard to check the progress of the tenants.

In considering this type of interpretation, it strikes me that it says more about the gospel writers’ relationship to the Jewish community and their growing need to appease Roman rulers (thus Pilate, whom we know historically was one of the more cruel governors, becomes a sympathetic figure, while the Jewish leaders become more and more demonized the later the gospels are written and gospels themselves, including several Gnostic texts become increasingly anti-Semitic). As such, I find it hard to believe that Jesus would overtly preach an ethic that condemns the Jews, since all gospels centrally agree that he retained and valued the Mosaic Law and felt, not that Judaism was evil, but rather that it needed to be revitalized and stripped down to its non-materialistic or cultural artifacts. Further, more statements from Jesus suggest he felt that if you were not accepted by any group, dust it off and move on—thus the wrathful vision of Jesus does not seem to be well supported, but may be an important image for early Christians facing significant bodily and social harm (hence the vineyard parable whereby God’s servants are harmed).

In this capacity, I think there is some value as to why when many of us read the Fig tree event it seems incongruent—overly harsh and judgmental. Yet as it is elaborated upon within the four gospels, it does illustrate what I do think is a beneficial conception of God as a farmer (interestingly echoing a new interpretation of the Book of Genesis, whereby Adam and Eve are viewed as the farmers of the world and God more distant), whereby God is diligent and ensures that His crops flourish and have all the nutrients they need to thrive and generate. In this capacity, we see it theologically revealed that God is close to us; hence John says that if we keep Jesus within us, we become like the vines of the vineyard and through this we directly benefit from an even more intimate relationship with God, the farmer.

by Katherine MacDowell, M.Ed.

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. 

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.We also offer many free wedding ceremonies for your use.

 

The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.  
 

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