The Excellent Way #9

The ninth in our attempts to study Paul's description of love brings us to another statement he made about what love is not. When this negative exists love does not exist. Paul wrote: "...it is not proud..."(I Cor. 13:4)
The Greek word here is phusioutai. The Interlinear translates this "...is not puffed up..." W.E. Vine defines this as "...being puffed up with pride..." Arndt and Gingrich define the word as "puff up, make proud or arrogant..." Zodhiates
tells us, speaking of this word, "...in the NT spoken of only figuratively of pride or self-conceit..."
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A derivative noun form of the word is phusiosis. It means, according to Zodhiates, "a swelling of pride or ambition, arrogance, haughtiness."
Synonyms of these words mean, according to Zodhiates,: "pride, haughtiness, bragging, boasting, empty glory, vain glory, to inflate with pride, to be high-minded, to exalt, to exalt above, to elevate above others, to be vain".
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Tuphoo is one such synonym. Paul uses it with reference to qualifications of overseers when he says that he "...must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited..."(tuphotheis)(I Tim. 3:6) And Paul lists conceit as one of the conditions existing during the "...terrible times in the last days..."(II Tim. 3:4)
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Hupselophroneo is another synonym. It means to be high-minded, proud, arrogant. Paul uses it with reference to some in I Tim. 6:17: "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant(hupselophronein) nor to put their hope in wealth..."
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Another listed synonym by Zodhiates is epairo. "Metaphorically, to lift up or exalt oneself." Paul spoke to the gullibility of the Corinthians in II Cor. 11:20. He told them "...you..." "...put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward..."(epairetai)
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Other words akin to the one Paul uses in I Cor. 13:4 are huperairo, huperupsoo, and huperphroneo. These words project the ideas of "to exalt above" "to elevate above others" "to be vain or arrogant."
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Such passages as II Thess. 2:4 where the context is that of the second coming of Christ and Paul is discussing events that will precede it. He speaks of the man of lawlessness doomed to destruction and he describes him as the one who "...exalts(huperairomenos) himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped..." He "...even sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God." My, my, the lengths to which some would go to declare their preeminence.
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William Barclay called this collection of words "The Words of Contempt." He made some very interesting comments about them. "...usually translated pride, arrogant." "...included by Paul in his terrible list of the sinners of this world..."(Ro. 1:30) "...included among the sinners of the last days..."(II Tim. 3:2) "God...resists the proud..."(Ja. 4:6)
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Barclay indicated that this one "shows himself above others..." "...looks down..." "...on everyone else..." "...secure in his own arrogant self-conceit..."
As one delves further into Barclay's description of such a person one discovers he projects two distinct ideas of such a person. The attitude "...and wealth were apt to go hand in hand..." And the attitude "...despises men and lifts itself arrogantly against God." "Huperephanos has erected an altar to himself within his own heart, and worships there."
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One other word closely related to this idea of self-conceit and pride is alazoneia. It too is a sin of the last days.(II Tim. 3:1-2) And it is also in the list of despicable sins of Ro. 1:30. John uses the word in I Jn. 2:16 when he presents the three main areas of sins. One of them, according to John, is "...the pride of life..."(alazoneia)The Interlinear has it "...pride about...life's possessions..."
Barclay goes to great length to reveal the seriousness of this sin. He quotes the usage of this word by such men as Plutarch, Aristotle, Plato, etc. and the conclusion from their writings is that this word defines quacks who plied their cure-alls on unsuspecting people. He said that in the NT this refers to false teachers who taught others and claimed to teach truth, and did not know truth themselves and found arguments to justify about anything.
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Zodhiates gives an interesting distinction between alazoneia and huperephania, even though they both are related to pride and arrogance. Zodhiates says that alazonea is a "...sin against truth itself, to think more of oneself in spite of the fact that one knows what the truth is about himself..." He goes on to say that huperephania is a sin against love which would be aware of the needs of others and be involved in the fulfilling of those needs.
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Love "...is not proud..." And when one runs the gamut of words referring to pride and comprehends the deep, dark, selfish lifestyle some live with respect to others, it is no wonder that Paul outlines this attribute as a detriment to Christian unity. None can be had among the proud and conceited for ultimately they are not interested in others at all.

The Excellent Way #8

Matthew 5:5

"Blessed are the humble, for they will

inherit the earth."

Another negative Paul gave in his description of love in I Cor. 13:4 was "...it does not boast..."(NIV) The Interlinear says "...does not brag..." The Amplified reads "...is not boastful or vainglorious..."

As far as I can tell the Greek word here (perpereuomai) is not used in any other place in the Bible. The noun form from which the word comes, (poneros), according to Zodhiates, is not found in scripture. It means "braggert."

Zodhiates lists several synonyms for perpereuomai but they are also listed as synonyms for the next negative Paul uses in I Cor. 13:4 "...love..." "...is not proud...".

The World Book Dictionary defines "brag" as "to praise oneself in what one has," and it defines "boast" as "to speak highly of oneself."

It is a fact that if one majors in selfism then time for others is limited; the feelings of others are ignored; the needs of others are overlooked; and the only attention others are apt to get is destructive criticism. No wonder unity cannot thrive in such an atmosphere. The passage that tells it all is found in Luke 18.

"To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like all other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all my income." But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."(NIV)(Lk. 18:9-14)

#7 The Excellent Way

The Mount Of Beatitudes

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On this mount Jesus said "...love your enemies..." It was a given that we love our brethren. How sad it is that just a few years later Paul was writing about unity and love to a church that was divided.

The reason unity is difficult for some is because they don't have agape for one another. It is just as simple as that. It was very easy for the church at Corinth to find fault. There were so many faults for them to find. And if one did not love then dwelling on the obvious faults of others was easy. Paul knew that so he presented to them "...The Excellent Way..." to unity.

At this point in our study of his discussion of the Way he turns to some negatives about love. And he teaches everyone that love is not characterized by certain attributes. If they exist love does not.

In I Cor. 13:4 he wrote that love "...does not envy..."(NIV) The RSV reads "...love is not jealous..." The Amplified says "...love is never envious nor boils over with jealousy..."

In the Bible there are two basic Greek words for envy. They are phthonos and zelos. Paul refers to zelos in I Cor. 13:4. Each word can be destructive of proper human relations and therefore destroy unity.

W.E. Vine says that phthonos is "the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others..." Spiros Zodhiates says of the word that it is "...always used with an evil meaning..." Vine agrees and adds that the difference between the words is that zelos desires the have the same things as others and phthonos would seek to deprive others of what they have.

Zelos can have a positive sense where phthonos is never used in a positive way according to lexicographers. Zelos can also be like phthonos, negative, and that is the way Paul uses it here.

They both are works of the flesh in this sense. In Gal. 5 Paul lists them both among a motley crew of works that he says will keep one from entering the kingdom of heaven if persisted in. They are called "...the acts of the sinful nature..."(NIV)(Gal. 5:19) The list includes: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy(zelos), fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy(phthonoi), drunkeness, orgies.

Paul lists phthonos in Ro. 1:29-31 along with another catalog of sins that will cause God to turn away from folks if they are persisted in. Interesting that so many Christians practice jealousy and look down their self-righteous noses at other sinners in the list.

Paul even speaks of himself and other Christians in Titus 3:3-5 as having practiced phthonos. "At one time we too were foolishly disobedient, deceived and enslaved to all kinds of passions and pleasures..." "We lived in malice and envy(phthonos), being hated and hating one another..." But something changed all that "...but when the kindness and love of God appeared, he saved us."

Isn't it interesting that in all the various lists of sins Paul lists envy and jealousy as being equally a sin as the others and we don't see it that way?

Peter concurred with Paul. "...rid yourselves of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and slander of every kind.'(I Pet. 2:1)

Zodhiates says of zelos that it can "...make war on the good it sees in another..." Indeed this word is not just an emotional state. It displays itself in the way we treat others.

Stephen illustrated this for us in his speech to the Sanhedrin. He said "Because the patriarchs were jealous(zelosantes) of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt."(Acts 7:9)

The apostles experienced the same effects of ill will from the Jewish leaders of the day. "...the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy."(zelos)(Acts 5:17) "They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail."(Acts 5:18)

On another occasion during one of Paul's successful missionary tours he ran into the same ill will. "When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy(zelou)and talked abusively against what Paul was saying."(Acts 13:45) No wonder Paul encouraged the Christians at Corinth not to be jealous and envious of one another. He knew first hand the harshness and hardness of such folks. And of course later these attitudes would cause his imprisonment and ultimate death.

Paul had earlier written to the Corinthians "You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy(zelos) and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?"(I Cor. 3:3) And a few months later he would write: "...I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be..." "...I fear that there may be..." "...quarreling..." "...jealousy..."(zelos) "...outbursts of anger..." "...factions..." "...slander..." "...gossip..." "...arrogance and disorder..."(II Cor. 12:20)

Isn't it sad that this tendency can cause disunity in the church? God help us to have love for one another and we won't be envious and jealous for love "...does not envy..."

The Excellent Way #6

The picture accompanying this blog is one of the entrance way to En-gedi where David wrote many of the Psalms. David was aware of the mercy, the compassion, the kindness of God. It is not unusual then that as we come to the New Testament and we hear from another inspired writer that kindness is mentioned as being a key ingredient of Christian love and unity.

In I Cor. 13:4 Paul continues with the distinguishing attributes of agape by writing "...love is kind..." That is an expression of the Christian will, kindness. And if Christian love exists then kindness is present.

The word Paul used for kindness here was chresteuomai. It means, according to Zodhiates, "to be kind" "obliging" "willing to help or assist." And as one studies this word the forgone conclusion is that kindness is more than just a sentiment or a dormant characteristic. It is a word full of action.

The word comes from chrestos which means "good natured" "useful" "gentle" towards others. It is found in Eph. 4:32 where Paul wrote "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Peter wrote "...you have tasted the kindness of the Lord."(I Pet. 2:3)

Another word related to chresteuomai is chrestotes. It means "profitable" "kindness" "benignity" according to Zodhiates. He says chrestotes is the opposite of cutting something short and quickly. Wow! How the church needs that. Paul admonished the pastors of the church at Ephesus to be kind. Of course, he would not ask other leaders to do what he would not do. So he told the Corinthians that he in every way was willing to show himself to them as a servant of God.(II Cor. 6:4) Then he says as he lists the ways he showed them that "...kindness..." was one of those ways.(II Cor. 6:6) God give us leaders who are kind and who don't jump to conclusions about the flock and cut them short.

Paul uses chrestotes in Eph. 2:7 when he wrote about the way God had expressed his grace to us. He wrote that it was "...expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus." And he told us in Col. 3:12 that we ought to be kind. "...as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves..." "...with kindness..." And he told Titus "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy." (Titus 3:4-5)

We serve a kind God. This word chrestotes has been described as a mellowing characteristic that does away with harshness. God give us leaders like that in the church.

The synonyms of chresteuomai give us a deeper and fuller grasp of kindness. Paristemi is a synonym that means "to stand beside." It too is an active word that is translated help. Paul introduced the servant Phoebe to the church at Rome. He told them "...give her any help she may need." It is also used of Phoebe when Paul tells them "...she has been a great help to many people, including me..." (Ro. 16:1-2) The Interlinear translates this word "...stand by..."

Antilambanomai is another synonym of chresteuomai. It also means "to help" "be a partaker of" "to succor" acccording to Zodhiates. Interesting that Paul uses this word in his admonitions to the elders of the church at Ephesus. He says "...we must help the weak...'(Acts 20:35) God give us "...overseers..." that willingly help the weak.

Boetheo is another synonym. It means "to aid." We are told that Boetheo comes from two words: "Boe-"a cry" and "theo" "to run." So Zodhiates says that it means "to run on hearing a cry." This word is seen in action in Mark 9 where the father of the possessed boy said to Jesus "...if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us..."(Mark 9:22) And as one reads on one sees the reaction of a loving person who hears a cry and runs to aid and give assistance to another.

Other synonyms mean "to do good" "to benefit""to be useful" It was said of Jesus "...He went around doing good..."(Acts 10:38)

Jesus was so people minded. He was kind, willing to help, useful, gentle, benign, standing beside others, aiding others, running to help, acting beneficially....

Blapto is an antonym of kindness. It means "to endanger" "to hurt" "to hinder" "to disable" "to weaken" "to impede." And the synonyms of this antonym mean "to act unjustly" "injure" "to do evil" "to harm" "to put in a bad mood against another" "to take away" "to consume" "to destroy." Paul uses one of them in I Cor. 6:8 when he spoke to these very Corinthians and said of them: "...you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers." The Greek language was no foreign language to Paul. He used another of these antomyms of kindness in Gal. 5:15 when he wrote: "If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed of each other." Paul described love with a word that was opposite of all the negative ways Christians can treat one another for he said "...love is kind..." A word that helps, stands beside it neighbors, aids them, assists them...

Recently I spent a couple of weeks in the home of two people who epitomize the statement "...love is kind..." Just a few years ago out of the kindness of their hearts they spent thousands of dollars, made two trips overseas, and adopted a little boy who had little hope of any comfortable future whatsoever. Who knows what would have happened to him. And who knows where he would be now. Instead he lives in a Christian home. He loves his Bible his adoptive grandmother gave him. He is healthy and happy.

Christian love is kindness. It is a serving kind of thing. It will bring blessings and unity to not only families but also to churches.

Hope my brother can use some of this as he studies about love. Due to circumstances and a lack of room most of my library is being kept by a kind brother and therefore I do not have ready access to it. I feel a little limited in giving as complete a study as I would like, but hopefully what I can do with the aid of Zodhiates will help....And I am not assuming that you need my help in any way. I know you are quite capable of study. I also know your heart and I thank you for giving me this small part in sharing the gospel...I love you brother....

Thank You So Much

I would like to thank all those that have been responding to my last couple of blogs. I appreciate the emails and encouragement and thank you for taking the time to write me. I also appreciate the phone calls. Thank you!

THE EXCELLENT WAY #5

THE MOUNT OF BEATITUDES

Matthew 5

"Don't hit back at all." (The Message)

Thanks for bearing with me for so long as I have tried to get to the description of love as portrayed by Paul in I Cor. 13. I have been dwelling on the words Paul used. He is so specific in his definition and language and the words are so revealing of what love is, that those who are truly interested in knowing about the subject cannot miss the point of true Christian love. The way is clear. To doubt it is to doubt the Apostle and to doubt the meanings of specific words.

Many are not interested in "...the excellent way..." because the price is too much for them to pay. For some the Bible is nothing more than a textbook of proof texts. And if the pieces of the puzzle are not put together as they place them, then there is no chance for unity. The true nature of love as described by Paul will not allow that tact.

I Cor. 12 is a treatise on the unity of the body of Christ in activity and I Cor. 13 is the discussion of how the various parts of the body are to treat one another. And it gives the driving force of the unity of the Church. Christian love will dispel disunity and division. Men might have their individuality and not be perfect clones of one another and still practice unity. Men might be mentally and philosophically different and still be unified. And the key is given in I Cor. 13.

So how does Paul describe love? Not as an excellent way or somebody's idea of an excellent way but as "...the excellent way..."

In verse 4 of I Cor. 13 Paul begins his description and definition by writing "...love is patient..."(NIV) The KJV has it "...charity suffereth long..." And the Amplified has it "...love endures long and is patient..."

The Greek text uses the word "...makrothumeo..." when it says "...love suffers long..." Zodhiates defines the word as just that: "...to suffer long..." "...as opposed to hasty anger or punishment..." Barclay calls it "...the divine patience.." and that stands to reason because that is how God deals with us. Barclay says that the Greek mind would not accept this as a virtue at all. Sadly some today fall in step with the first century Greeks rather than falling in step with the first century Apostle Paul. The Church was instructed to be "...patient..."

Other forms of this word mean basically the same thing, long-suffering, patience and they refer to patience with people. Another word, hupomone, refers primarily to patience toward things and circumstances according to lexicons.

I Cor. 13 is not the only N.T. reference to patience toward people. "...be patient with everyone..."(I Thess. 5:14) "...be patient, bearing with one another in love..."(Eph. 4:2) "...clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."(Col. 3:12)

Patience is listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."(Gal. 5:22-24) And Paul's teaching here concurs with his teaching in I Cor. 13. Those who have the Spirit will practice unity. "...keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace..."(Eph. 4:2)

God is a patient God. No wonder. "...God is love..." John wrote: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."(I Jn. 4:8) It does not surprise us at all then that when Paul describes love he says "...love is patient..." because God is patient. Paul wrote to the Romans: "...do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience..."(Ro. 2:4) Peter wrote: "...He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."(II Pet. 3:9) Why is He patient with us? He loves us! Why should we be patient with one another?

I have enjoyed for a number of years the study of synonyms and antonyms of N.T. words. That has proven to be beneficial to me and to an understanding of the meanings of Greek words.

Anoche is listed as a synonym of the derivatives of makrothumeo. It is defined as "tolerance" according to Zodhiates. It is also defined as "to bear with" and "forbearance." Anecho, another synonym, is found in Eph. 4:2 where Paul encourages "...to bear with one another in love." He told the Colossians "...bear with each other..."(Col. 3:13).

Another synonym is epieikeia. It is defined as "clemency" or "gentleness." Zodhiates gives the flavor of its meaning with these words: "Consideration springing from a recognition of the danger that ever lurks upon the assertion of legal rights lest they be pushed to immoral limits." And he further explains it as "The virtue that rectifies and redresses the severity of the sentence." Our vernacular might be "cut me some slack." If there is no tolerance, gentleness, easiness where is love?

We are told that all debts are not called in where patience and forbearance are. Exactness to my personal viewpoints might also have to be forfeited even though I might be right. People are more important than viewpoints. Could that be possible?

Recently my wife made a visit to the doctor for some tests. After the visit I was surprised to look down at the billing and see a big N/C written on the front. No Charge. What an example of anoche. It is possible that there are circumstances when all debts are not called in. Isn't that what God did? "God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished."(NIV)(Ro. 3:25) Jesus paid it all. And by His grace (unmerited favor) He saved us. All debts were cancelled. We are forgiven through His blood. He continues to do that each day for His repentant children. Why don't we?

For sometime I have blogged on the subject of transparency. The theme of the blog has been the negative way we treat our penitent and repentant brothers and sisters who are transparent enough to confess their sins. Soon I hope to continue that blog for I literally have gone from alpha to omega in my pursuit of how we negatively treat one another and inspiration has given me a virtual cornucopia of words that illustrate our negative reactions.

It is almost as if we are keeping score on one another and we have a tally sheet of sins that we record each day on one another. And it is no wonder that the doorways of counselors are clogged with brothers and sisters. We have put some of them there. They are so guilt ridden and we have put barriers up between some of them and the Great Counselor who has the solution to their problems.

Recently I heard a preacher say that there are numbers of fallen pastors who are working in factories instead of preaching because God has taken away their anointing and their calling due to their falleness. I immediately thought of Paul, Peter, David and a number of others heroes of faith. At the same time I thought that to be working in a factory is not so bad. Paul was a tent maker.

We ought to be ashamed of ourselves because the Church does not have programs to recoup, reconcile, and regenerate the fallen. Elitism has no place in the Church of Christ. Where is the love of
Christ in all this.

The antonyms of patience are interesting and in closing I would like to mention a few. Aganaktesis is an antonym of these words we have been looking at that have to do with patience. It means to be "indignant." It has to do with wrath, anger and resentfulness. Orge is another antonym. According to Zodhiates it reflects "outbursts of vengeful mind." Paul encourages us "Love must be sincere..."(Rom. 12:9) And in the same paragraph he says "Do not take revenge, my friends..."(Rom. 12:19) And in Eph. 4:31 he says "Get rid....of wrath." In I Tim. 2:8 he wrote "I want all men everywhere to lift up holy hands without anger and disputing." Thumos has to do with impetuousness, fierceness and anger. Quite the opposite of patience. All of them, wouldn't you say. Thumos is a work of the flesh.

(Gal. 5:20)
Isn't it interesting that we can choose by our own volition and will to express love through patience, longsuffering, tolerance and gentleness or we can by the same expression of will be indignant, fierce, full of wrath, hard, violent, and impetuously angry?

Paul has instructed us all that love is patience and this will bring unity. The others will only divide and separate.

The Excellent Way #4("Ain't No Rock Gonna Take My Place"

The Son of God, who is love, approached the Mount of Olives, and as He approached, He instructed His disciples to get a colt for Him to ride. "When He came near to the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:" "Blessed is the King who comes in the Name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to the highest!" "Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, 'Teacher rebuke your disciples!'"(Lk. 19) Why would anyone make that statement? What was wrong with praising the God of love in a loud voice? Who would be so captious? What motivated them?
The typical Pharisees of Jesus day were the types of some present day antitypes. The loving Savior was soon to weep over being rejected by His own people. These Pharisees were more worried about their rules than they were about the salvation of the souls of men. And they truly have their antitypes today.
Jesus understands both the types and antitypes. He depicted the types in Matthew 23. They were the religious orthodox. In their eyes they were perfectly and precisely religious. Peloubet called them "the separated ones." He goes on to say "they bent their energies to a strict keeping of the law, using political means..." "Their excessive strictness led them to formulate more detailed rules..." "Pharisees...multiplied minute precepts and distinctions to such an extent that the whole life of the Israelite was hemmed in and burdened on every side by instructions so numerous and trifling that the law was almost if not wholly lost sight of." Is it a stretch to say their antitypes of today have done the same with grace and love? Peloubet makes a point well taken by this writer: "...they devoted their energies to making converts to their own narrow views, who with all the zeal of proselytes were more exclusive and more bitterly opposed to truth than they were themselves."
The Pharisee of Luke 18 typifies perfectly the religion of the Pharisee. He must have been one of their champions. He was a praying man. Scripture says though that he "...prayed about himself..." "God I thank you that I am not like all other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector." "I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of my income."(Lk. 18)
Why was he not justified in the eyes of Jesus if all that was correct about him? He violated the first and second commandments of Jesus and the premise of true love found in I Cor. 13. He exalted himself. He was a braggard. He kept records of other men's lives. And love does not do that.
Perhaps the reason these folks did not want Jesus praised outloud was because he had their number. They hated him so much that they ultimately were instrumental in His being crucified. They were right in the middle of giving orders "...that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest Him."(Jn. 11:57)
Yes, Jesus had the number of those types and He has the number of their antitypes today. Their religion is perfect because everybody else is wrong. They are the truly orthodox. They are the knowledgeable. They can quote Scripture with the best of Scripture quoters. But something is missing. What is it? "The Excellent Way." They cannot truly love as God wants them to love. Their spiritual port-folio is missing the qualification of that which will make one a true follower of God.
Every now and then among the Pharisees as in all perfectly imperfect self-righteous movements bright lights emerge and shine. Acts 5 tells us of Gamaliel, a man of fairness and good judgement in his dealings with his fellow men. Nicodemus of John 3 was also a Pharisee, but one who learned of the New Birth from the Master Teacher. And apparently responded to it. Joseph of Arimathaea "a good man."(Lk. 23:50) He was a secret disciple of Christ.(Jn. 19:38) He along with Nicodemus buried Jesus. Paul was a Pharisee.(Acts 23:6; Phil. 3:5) So not all men are held captive by the strangle hold of such antics as were put forth by the Pharisees. Love still lives in some men's lives. Paul, who was a Pharisee , was to give the solution and he called it "The Excellent Way."
It is possible then to fast, tithe, and keep all the rules yet be missing the key ingredient of Christianity...love...
Jesus had the Pharisees figured. And He told them so. Outwardly they looked good. But they were ugly on the inside.(Lk. 11:39) They were greedy.(Lk. 11:39) They were braggards.(Lk. 18) They were judgemental and self-protective of their flawed concept of what was right.(Mt.9:34) They teamed up on those they considered their antagonists.(Jn. 11:47) Their love was spent on money.(Lk. 16:14) They also loved popularity.(Lk. 11:43) They were hypocrites.(Mt. 23:13) They taught folks a religious philosophy that was not good for them.(Mt. 23:15) They were full of wickedness.(Mt. 23:28) They were violent and murderous.(Mt. 23:30-31) They had an unacceptable form of righteousness.(Mt. 5:20) They practiced a dishonest form of worship.(Mt. 15:8) Their seeming right influence was evil.(Mt. 16:5-6)
This was the stripe of people who met Jesus on the road to the Mount of Olives and told Him to quieten his disciples who were vocally and joyfully praising God loudly. Methinks me hears many of their counterparts saying the same things .
Interesting what Jesus said to them. "I tell you..." "...if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."(Lk. 19:40)
Recently, I heard a preacher say, "Ain't no rock gonna take my place."
So we praise Him because He loved us so...and nobody will stop us.