Oleksandr Zhabenko

🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞

Dedicated to Emma Kok.

(Romans II, 14-29)

Romans V, 20 – ‘μορφωσιν’ – ‘morphosin’ – ‘form, appearance’ (of knowledge and truth).

Romans V, 29 – literally: within the spirit, not within the letter. The phrase has become a catchphrase (spirit and letter, for example, in Ukraine there is a publishing house of spiritual literature with such a name), here in Paul’s verse we can see that spirit refers to the nature of a human being, to themselves, and letter refers to the forms of culture to which they belong.

Paul tells us what the work of the Law is, how the Law works on a person(s), and then explains why Judaism, the ritualistic understanding of the Law of Moses, is insufficient.

Regarding the work of the Law, Paul uses words with the prefix συν-, which can be translated as together with, co(n)-. Here we see the Law as an assistant to man in living in accordance with God’s will, in cognition of God.

And this is the value of the Law in this work. If it is (for example, among devout Gentiles), then they are an example of the Law in themselves, and if it is not, if there is a violation of the Law, of God’s will, then the external forms of the Law, in particular circumcision among the Jews, have no real meaning, and therefore praising them in this case becomes a reason for their condemnation.

(Matthew V, 33-41)

The reading is in fact closely connected with the next one, which is read on Saturday, so that by Sunday, during the week, the whole of Chapter V, which reveals much about the teachings and commandments of the Saviour, can be read.

Matthew V, 36 – ‘λευκην’ – ‘leuken’ – ‘white’ – from ‘λυκε’ – ‘luke’ - ‘bright’ (hence the name of my beloved saint, the Apostle and Evangelist Luke).

Matthew V 37, 39 – the same word ‘πονηρος’ – ‘poneros’ (in different forms) is used, which is translated as ‘evil, wicked’ – derived from the word ‘harmful’ – ‘evil in its effect, evil in its result’. In the first case, it really means evil, i.e. the devil, and in the second case, evil.

The first part of the words (about the oath) is well described here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/PowerOfHuman.html

I’ll write about the second and tomorrow’s reading tomorrow, so that it will be clearer.

Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!

Source:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/