Colossians 2:6 and 7

^.6Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord you must walk in him, ^.7having been rooted² and building-yourselves-on in him and making-yourselves-firm with the belief according as you were taught, exceeding in thankfulness.

Following-on logically from the previous verses…

·         as you received Christ Jesus the Lord (in comparison to how you took Christ Jesus the Master who was presented to you beside or alongside yourselves, emphasizing the truth that he is the Master and confirming the validity and authenticity of his lordship, including dominion and authority – in the way/manner that you believed the good-message of what God gives to believe regarding Christ and thus you received the gift of holy spirit)

·         you must walk (the verb “to walk” literally means: to move the feet around, to go on foot; but figuratively it means: to walk around during the everyday living of life, to behave oneself, to conduct oneself – it is imperative that you are behaving, conducting yourselves during the everyday living of your lives)

o   in him (within the sphere of action of Christ Jesus the Lord; this is referring to being receptive to the spirit of Christ in you, accepting what Christ communicates to you and obeying him),

·         – and this can occur because –

·         you have already been rooted and you are continuing rooted (as a tree's root spreads all around the earth underneath it to receive the nourishment it needs to sustain itself and to remain where it is situated to receive sunlight, etc)

·         and you are building yourselves on (being in the process of building or edifying yourselves in the walk/behavior category on top of something, as a house is built upon its foundation whereby the rest of the building stands on top of its foundation and is supported by it – building yourselves upon the foundation)

o   in him (again this is achieved within the sphere of action of Christ Jesus the Lord)

·         and you are making yourselves firm (sure, steady, definite)

o   with the belief (by/in the faith, the trust relative to God and the things of God, the information that God makes known to people to have confidence-in with assured certainty and surety)

o   according as you were taught (just as, according to how, in comparison to the way that you were given instruction),

·         exceeding in thankfulness (abounding over and above the number or measure already attained by you in gratitude being shown towards God; this word "thankfulness" in the Greek comes from the same root word as the word "grace" plus the word "well" or "well-off" and therefore "thankfulness" is the expression made by the freedom of will of the recipient expressing well his gratitude to the giver of the grace, the bestowed unmerited or undeserved favor, given-to and received-by him – thankfulness for all that God and the Lord Jesus Christ have accomplished for you and continue to do).

[Reference: Romans 10:8-10; I Corinthians 3:10-15; Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:7-10; Jude 1:20.]

Luke 16:13 - God and mammon

^.13Not-one household-servant is able to serve-as-a-slave to two lords, for either he will hate the one and he will love¹ the different-one, or he will hold-fast-to one and he will despise the different-one. You are not able to serve-as-slaves to God and to mammon."

Not one household-servant (no servant living in his masters’ house) is able to serve-as-a-slave (has the able-power or capability to serve in the position and capacity of being a slave, a bound-person carrying-out service) to two lords/masters (there's no doubt about this fact; even if a person tries to serve as a slave to 2 different masters he is not serving as a slave to either one of them), in truth...

·         either he will hate the one (have active ill-will towards one of them) and he will love¹ (the word "love¹" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love, Godly-love) the lord of a different kind/sort,

·         or he will hold-fast-to one (firmly-hold one of the lords, as though holding him up before himself firmly in order to support him and keep him up) and he will despise the different-one (think down on/against the other kind of lord).

You are not able to serve-as-slaves to God and to mammon (you do not have the able-power, you do not have the capability to serve as slaves to God and to mammon, because you cannot serve as slaves to two lords)."

Revelation of Jesus Christ 22:16

^.16"I Jesus sent my angel to witness these-things to you, on the churches. I am the root and the genus of David - the star, the shining (star), the early (star)."

John writes the next words that he hears – the Lord Jesus Christ says:

·         "Emphatically I Jesus sent (in Greek there is a definite word for “I” plus the name “Jesus” plus the verb meaning “I sent” giving great emphasis – I emphatically myself Jesus sent)

o    my angel (refer to Revelation 1:2)

§  to witness (to attest with information, to give the declaration of knowledge that my angel personally has and therefore can state and confirm it on the strength of his own authority) – to witness what? –

§  these-things (the revelation of events, etc, pertaining to and proceeding from me; refer to Revelation 1:1 and 2)

§  to you (plural pronoun – all of you),

§  emphatically on the churches (based upon and with regard to the churches; the motivating purpose or object for witnessing these things being the assemblies of people; Jesus sent his angel to witness this revelation to John so that John would then witness this revelation to the churches; refer to Revelation 1:4, 11 and 20, plus chapters 2 and 3).

·         Emphatically I am (in Greek there is a definite word for “I” plus the verb meaning “I am” giving emphasis – I myself am)

o    the root (the word "root" is used like a tree’s root relative to the tree itself and the nourishment that the root provides to produce fruit – here the Lord Jesus Christ calls himself the root in the figurative sense)

o    and the genus (the decent, kind, race, class, sort of being, lineage)

§  of David (King David was the first king whom God chose and anointed to rule over God's people; refer to Revelation 5:5) -

o    the star,

§  emphatically and specifically

§  the shining star (figuratively I am a star that is bright, brilliant, radiant, beaming-light),

§  the early star (figuratively I am the star that shines early in the morning, signifying the beginning of the new day for mankind; refer to Revelation 21:23)."

Hebrews 1:7

And towards (with a purposed reference to) indeed the angels God says…

·         “The One making (producing)

o   His angels - spirits (the angels belonging to Him into being spirit-beings; this is what God makes them, and once an angel is made God will not change his consistency, his make-up; an angel remains a spirit being, angels will not be changed by God into some other kind of being, once an angel is made it is a completed action)

§  even His official-servants - flame of fire (emphatically those angels belonging to God have/hold the office of service, they carry-out their work and official-duty pertaining to public service attending to their superior, the only true God; in their actions God makes them into being flame of fire, bright and burning fire, blazing, flaming fire, indicating God's purification and righteous judgment in action, being implemented and carried-out; refer to Psalm 104:4).”

Matthew chapter 12

^12:1In that time, Jesus journeyed on the sabbaths by means of the sown-fields, but his learning-disciples hungered and they began to pluck ears (of grain) and to eat. ^.2But the Pharisees having seen said to him, "Look!, your learning-disciples do that-which is not permitted to do in a sabbath."

During that period or season of time (perhaps during the week of the special Sunday sabbath of the day of Pentecost in 27 A.D.), Jesus passed on the following weekly sabbath from one place to another through the fields which had been sown with grain and still had some ripe stalks in them. His learning-disciples (students) were hungry and they started to pluck ears of grain (the heads of the stalks, usually wheat at that time of year in May/June, or some barley that had not been harvested) and to eat them.

But when the Pharisees saw what was going on, they said to Jesus, "Look (behold, see, pay attention)!, your learning-disciples are doing what is not permitted to do (not available or possible to be done) during a sabbath."

[Reference: Leviticus 23:22; Deuteronomy 23:25; Mark 2:23 and 24; Luke 6:1 and 2.]

Philippians 3 - upward calling

^.13Brothers, I do not calculate myself to have taken-hold², but one-thing: indeed forgetting the-things behind but stretching-out-on the-things in-front,

^.14I pursue according to (the) target into the prize of the upward calling of God.

Paul writes: I pursue (in the good sense of following or proceeding earnestly after)...

o   in accordance with (in conformity and proportion to/with)

o   the target (the object that is to be scoped, watched, looked at intensely by me so as to determine my own action carefully; the Greek word translated “target” comes from the same root as the words translated “overseers” in Philippians 1:1, and the verb “to scope” in Philippians 2:4 and 3:17)

o   into the prize (with a view to, directed to, and resulting in the garland, which is only awarded to the victor/winner of a race)

o   of the upward calling of God (this prize pertains to God's upward invitation, the calling which is above, over, in an upward direction; figuratively referring to the fact that this calling is heavenly, coming or proceeding from God [some Greek texts include the words “in Christ Jesus”]).

God has issued His invitation to all of mankind by means of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all holy-people accepted it at the moment when we believed what God says regarding Himself and His son, and thus we received the gift of holy spirit.

Paul uses athletic terminology in verse 14 which draws attention to holy-people and the truth of being together moving in the direction of the same objective, being on the same team in the same contest.

At a future time we will receive all that God has promised to us in Christ Jesus our Lord – we will receive the prize to be awarded to every holy-person who is running in the race at the present time.

[Reference: I Corinthians 9:24 and 25; II Corinthians 5:10; Ephesians 1:18, 4:1 and 4; II Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 3:1; II Peter 1:10.]

Acts 18:1-3 - Paul

^18:1After these-things, having been separated from Athens, he went into Corinth, ^.2and having found some Judean, Aquila by-name, a Pontusian by genus, recently having come² from Italy, and Priscilla his wife – because-of the-thing (which) Claudius throughly-arranged² (for) all the Judeans to be separated from Rome – he came-towards them, ^.3and because-of being like-crafted he remained with them and he worked, for they were tent-makers by craft.

After the events in Athens and separating (departing) out from that location, Paul went westward into Corinth. Corinth at that time was a large city and the political capital of Greece in the region of Achaia where the Roman proconsul officiated. It was at the west end of the isthmus with two harbors, Lechaeum and Cenchrea, and was therefore a busy trade route with many people passing through it. Paul arrived there about 52 A.D. and stayed for about 18 months.

In Corinth he found a Judean named Aquila who was born in Pontus and who had come away from Italy a short time before this with his wife Priscilla because of an edict which Claudius the Roman Emperor had made that all the Judeans must leave Rome. Paul went towards them and he remained with them in their home because both he and Aquila were of similar craft (skill, trade, art, occupation) and they worked together being tent-makers (using leather or cloth of goats' hair or linen; some scholars suggest that they were saddle-makers).

Paul had not found them so that he could get a 'free-ride' or a 'free-ticket' or a 'free-breakfast, lunch and dinner' or so that he would not have to pay any rent charges, etc. No! The great Apostle Paul worked. He earned his stay in their house and he did not abuse their hospitality.

[Reference: Romans 16:3-5; I Corinthians 1:2, 4:12, 16:19; II Corinthians 1:1; II Timothy 4:19.]

Luke 10:1

^10:1But after these-things the Lord upwardly-pointed-out seventy different-people and apostled them by-two before his face into every city and place where he used-to be about to go.

After the events that occurred during the Feast of Tabernacles in October 27 A.D. (refer to John 7:11 – 10:21)...

·         the Lord (referring to Jesus who was the Master in this situation)

·         upwardly-pointed-out (indicated in an upward direction with God's involvement, he showed by raising aloft and making it public regarding)

·         seventy different-people (70 people of a different kind/sort, referring to the fact that these men did not include the 12 apostles listed in Luke 6:13-16 and referred to in Luke 9:1 and 2, plus they responded correctly to Jesus [some Greek texts read "seventy-two"])

·         and apostled them by-two (he sent them forth/away from himself on this specific mission or assignment in pairs)

·         before his face (ahead of, in front of, in advance of, prior to himself time-wise)

...into every city and place (directed to all of the towns and locations) where during that past time emphatically he was about to go (in Greek there is a definite word for “he” plus the verb meaning “he used-to be about” giving emphasis – where he himself was on the point of coming after a pair of these 70 people went into a city or place).

The number seventy is significant in that it emphasizes the numbers seven (7 indicates 'spirit') and ten (10 indicates 'order'), which is spiritual order in light of God's spirit realm, and Jesus was utilizing that along with the 70 people during this occurrence. By sending them in groups of 2, emphasis is given to the words and actions being true; they were witnessing to the same truth regarding God and the things of God that was told and given to them by Jesus via words or actions.

Acts 21:18 and 19 - Paul goes to Jerusalem

^.18But on the coming (day) Paul entered together with us towards James and all the elders arrived, ^.19and having greeted them he told-out one-by-one each of-which-things God did among the Gentiles by means of his ministry.

The following day Paul, in conjunction with Luke and the other holy-people traveling with him, went towards James (refer to Acts 15:13) into his house or another meeting place.

All the elders also arrived (came to be, became present) at this meeting. These elders (elder men) were those having more knowledge, wisdom, dignity, etc, relative to God and the things of God; they were elders of the church of holy-people in service to/for God and the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “elders” is not referring to the literal meaning of being older in age than other people, nor were they elders of the Judean/Israeli Sanhedrin council.

·         When Paul had greeted them (saluted them, drew them to himself),

·         he related (recounted, led the details out, unfolded)

·         one-by-one (according to one, every one after another) each of the things that God did (performed)

·         among the Gentiles (people belonging to nations other-than Israel/Judah)

·         by means of Paul's ministry (the duty or function of service which he had been given by God and the Lord Jesus Christ to benefit other people).

Now we are told why Paul had this urgent desire to go to Jerusalem – he wanted to tell 'headquarters' regarding the Gentiles hearing God's Word and believing it and receiving God's gift of holy spirit by means of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul wanted them to again hear and thus know the truth of what God and the Lord Jesus Christ had revealed to him regarding the good-message that God has given mankind to believe since the day of Pentecost when the gift of holy spirit was first made available. This gift of holy spirit is God's essence within a person who believes, both to Judeans/Israelites and Gentiles/nations thereby making that person a child of the only true God.

[Reference: Acts 14:23, chapter 15, 16:4, 20:17; Romans 15:15-32; I Timothy 5:17-20; Titus 1:5.]

Ephesians - the mystery

The mystery of the Christ (the secret pertaining to the resurrected Christ, which has been revealed) is that:

·       the Gentiles (people belonging to nations other-than Israel/Judah, different ethnic groups to the descendants of Israel)

·       have the availability to be:

o   inheritors-together (people who inherit together, joint heirs, people who have the inheritance, the assigned lot, the allotted-portion in conjunction with one-another, fellow-heirs, co-heirs)

o   and people-bodied-together (people who body together, having the joint body, people who are limbs of the same body, members of one body in conjunction with one-another, fellow-bodied, co-bodied)

o   and sharers-together (people who share together, joint partakers in association with one-another, fellow-sharers, co-partakers)

·       of the promise (the proclamation, the declaration of the message of God’s intention)

o   in Christ Jesus (within the cause and sphere of action, character, and attributes of Christ Jesus, emphasizing the truth that he is the Anointed-one, the Messiah; Jesus has been resurrected; this does not say 'with the group of people who are descendants of Israel' nor does it say 'as an extension to Israel' – because the resurrected Christ has created a new body, a new man, as previously explained in Ephesians 2:15-18)

§  by means of the good-message (through the teaching of the good-message, the gospel, the evangel concerning the Christ, for people to hear and believe it in order to become born spiritually by receiving the gift of holy spirit from God by means of the Lord Jesus Christ; refer also to Ephesians 1:13).

I Corinthians 13

·         The love¹ is patient (it continues to be long-suffering, long-tempered, having long-forbearance),

·         it is benevolent (it continues to show itself kind, supplying what is appropriately needed for use in specific situations);

----

o   the love¹ is not jealous (it is not being zealous in the bad sense, it does not have a boiling or vehement passion that is contrary to God’s Word),

o   it does not vaunt itself (it is not bragging, it does not push itself forward showing-off itself as a braggart in a vainglorious display),

o   it does not puff itself up (it is not inflating itself with its own importance or anything else),

o   it is not indecorous (it is not being unseemly, it does not behave indecorously, in a not-elegant, not-well-figured, not-seemly way),

o   it does not seek-after the-thing of itself (it is not looking for its own thing, it is not self-centered),

o   it is not sharpened (it is not being whet, made sharp as by something rubbing on it, it is not stimulated or caused to be irritated, touchy, incited, no paroxysm, it cannot be sharpened by something else trying to improve or change it),

o   it does not calculate the bad-thing (it is not reckoning, computing, counting something bad, it is not reasoning logically within itself anything that does not issue from God, that is not God’s will),

o   it does not joy on the unrighteousness (it is not being joyful resting upon injustice, it does not rejoice over unjustness, something based-on what is not right/just but is wrong) –

…but…

·         it joys-together with the truth (it continues to be joyful, rejoicing in conjunction with the truth, which is what God says, the essential reality, God’s inherent verity, the state of being true),

·         it protectively-covers all-things (it continues to shelter, keeping or fending off anything which may hurt and thereby it is sustaining and supporting all of God's spiritual-things, as the roof of a house protectively-covers the inside of that house which is concealed by the roof),

·         it believes all-things (it continues to trust, having faith in all of God's spiritual-things, which is what Paul is in the middle of teaching here in chapter 13 – this phrase does not mean that it believes anything and everything because that would be against God's will!),

·         it hopes all-things (it continues to expect all of God's spiritual-things to come to pass, to come into being, to happen at a future time),

·         it patiently-endures all-things (it continues to hold-out, bearing-up, staying or remaining upright relative to God and the things of God under all of God’s spiritual-things).

 

Notes:

1. Godly-love is patient, it is benevolent.
2. Godly-love is not jealous, it does not vaunt itself, it does not puff itself up, it is not indecorous, it does not seek-after the-thing of itself, it is not sharpened, it does not calculate the bad-thing, it does not joy on the unrighteousness.
3. Godly-love joys-together with the truth, it protectively-covers all-things, it believes all-things, it hopes all-things, it patiently-endures all-things – relative to God and the things of God.

Matthew 10:1

^10:1And having called-towards-himself his twelve learning-disciples he gave to them authority of unclean spirits so-as to throw them out and to attend-to every disease and every sickness.

When Jesus had called (invited) his twelve learning-disciples (students) towards himself he gave to them…

·         authority (authoritative-power, permitted-right) of, pertaining-to or over unclean spirits (spirits that are not free from mixture of that-which is against God, being mixed with something else, having impurity from God's viewpoint mixed with them, referring to the spirits following the devil, demons, devil-spirits) with the result and consequence to throw (cast) them out from people

·         and to attend-to (treat, be therapeutic, take care as necessary of) all/every disease (definite sickness causing mental and/or physical decline) and all/every sickness (physical softness or weakness which is debilitating).

As we read the four books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we must understand that Jesus was in the process of accomplishing redemption and salvation. Therefore the 'Acts chapter 2' gift of holy spirit (which is the spirit of Christ) that God made available by means of the Lord Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost, could NOT be given to anybody before that day because it was not available to be given.

However, God was able to give certain men/women holy spirit conditionally, which was upon the condition that he/she would believe and obey what God said. God gave holy spirit conditionally to Jesus as recorded in Matthew chapter 3, and then during Jesus' ministry at that time Jesus was able to delegate this authority to others so that they too could do what is recorded in verse 1 above. These twelve conditionally received holy spirit from God to enable them to carry-out what Jesus told them to do.

[Reference: Mark 6:7; Luke 9:1.]

Mark 16:6 and 7

^.6But the (one) says to them, "You must not be really-marveled; you seek-after Jesus of Nazareth, the (one) having been crucified² - he was raised-up, he is not here, look!, the place where they put him; ^.7but you must go, you must say to his learning-disciples and to Peter that, 'He leads you forth into Galilee, there you will see him according as he said to you.'"

The angel (seen by the women as a young-man) says to them...

·         "It is imperative that you are not really-marveled;
·         you are seeking-after Jesus of/from Nazareth (looking for Jesus the Nazarene; Jesus was brought up in Nazareth even though he was born in Bethlehem), emphatically and specifically the one who was crucified and that truth has not changed -
·         he was raised-up (caused to rise up alive from being dead),
·         he is not here (he is not inside this location of the memorial-place),
·         look (behold, see, pay attention!, the place where they put him (the specific location where they placed his dead body);
·         but contrary to staying here, you must go (it is imperative that you actively lead yourselves under, in the sense of going without any argument, under cover, as animals go because they are under a yoke without going from side to side or intentionally stopping to do something else, go)
·         you must say to his learning-disciples (students) including Peter that,
'He leads you forth into Galilee (he precedes you, goes before, in front of you into Galilee; refer to Matthew 28:16 and John 20:26-29 about the event in Galilee),

• there you will see him (there you will see Jesus, because he will present himself to be perceived with your eyes and known by you)
• just as Jesus said to you (refer to Mark 14:28).'"

Christ Jesus is the only one who has been resurrected by God and given his new spiritual body, but everyone else who has died still remains dead in the grave until the time of their resurrection and judgment.