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A Lot of Joy from God!

Oleksandr Zhabenko

🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞

Dedicated to Emma Kok.

(Romans V, 17 – VI, 2)

A continuation of yesterday’s post:
15062023.html

I wrote earlier, now I quote:

I will dwell more on the verse of Romans V, 20: ’the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.

The translation misses many of the nuances that make the passage difficult to understand (plus, the text is theological and difficult as it is). A more nuanced translation reads: The law (secretly) entered, and as a result, transgression became more than enough. And where sin became more than enough, where it was filled, grace overflowed. The Law of Moses did not increase the number of sins and did not encourage anyone to sin, but before it, sin was less obvious and clear, and with the coming of the Law it became clear and ‘filled up’, it turned out that there were more than enough sins to live badly. But the grace of God appeared, giving more than there was before the fall. Before sin, people were well in Paradise, and now, through grace, through the Incarnation of the Son of God, we can have eternal life, which exceeds the bliss of Paradise, we can live righteously in this age (see the next verse), and finally we have unity with God through Jesus Christ. This is what the apostle writes.

(end of quote)

Verse 21 has a peculiar logic to God’s design for human salvation - death (alas) entered and spread through sin, and righteousness enters and spreads through grace.

The end of the reading is the beginning of the next one, so more on that in due course.

(Matthew IX, 14-17)

Matthew IX, 17 – used literally ‘συντηπουνται’ - ‘syntepountai’ – ‘keep close together’. That is, God’s intention is that the new wine (New Testament doctrine and faith) should keep close together with the disciples of Jesus. Then they will be mutually preserved.

I also wrote earlier, and I quote:

The passage about the apostles’ fasting (or rather the absence of it during Jesus’ earthly life). Verses Matthew IX, 16-17 say that the main thing for the godliness of the apostles was not fasting, but life with Christ, while for the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees, who were waiting for the Messiah, fasting was very important. The significance of fasting increases in the time of waiting.

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

Source:
16062023.html

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