What you need not believe in order to be saved
When you come to Jesus with a broken and a contrite heart and seek his forgiveness, you have done all you need to do in order to be saved!
You don't need to believe that Jesus is God. You don't need to believe that he is the Son of God in some literalistic sense. You don't need to believe he was born of a virgin. You are not required to first subscribe to the idea of the Trinity. You don't need to be baptized in water before receiving Jesus into your heart.
All you need do is to trust Jesus enough to accept his help. And that means you must believe that God raised Jesus from the dead so that people like you could be saved by the man he appointed to that task.
When the Bible says you must believe Jesus is the Son of God, it means you must believe that this man Jesus can save you, that he is the Savior.
You may come to believe in some or all of the assertions listed above. But none is necessary to get you into God's kingdom. Just trust Jesus to help you out of your sad predicament. That's it!
Why this book is here
The purpose of this book is the furtherance of the good news of salvation.
Readers are encouraged to study the four books of the Bible from which this narrative is drawn: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (and a bit of Acts).
What appears in this book is drawn from Scripture – but this book should not be construed as Scripture.
I have tried to tell a story: a story of Jesus.
So I have not given a word-for-word account of the life of Jesus as portrayed in the four gospels, which would have been an impossible undertaking. Nor have I attempted to write a strictly historical account, another impossibility. My purpose is to get across what Jesus has to say to us today, whether by word or deed. Toward that goal, I have opted for an impressionistic style using modern American idiomatic speech.
And, I have done what I can to weave together the available materials into a plausible whole for ease of reading. But, in most cases, the best we can say of any episode related here is that something like what is reported is what happened.
The teachings and the actions of Jesus were vividly remembered by witnesses who then disseminated them throughout the church. The gospel writers then took that recollected material and used it in their written accounts. They understood that it was the teachings that were important, not the order in which they are given. And, in general, they felt free to paraphrase Jesus when they deemed it necessary.
A few well-known elements of the Jesus story have been omitted. You won't find the infancy narratives here, nor included is John's account of the first encounter of Jesus by Peter and others — simply because I could not think of a way to blend those episodes for a relatively harmonious whole.
You will also find that some of Jesus' words and teachings crop up more than once. In general, that is because a teaching is expounded upon by Jesus or by a gospel writer in more than one way. Hence, it seems the better course to let some repetitions stand. On the other hand, the parallel accounts of what seems to be a single incident do require selectivity and pruning in a work of this sort. That has been done, but explanation of the rationales would require too prolonged a delving into this creative writer's mind. Even so, I will be happy to answer specific questions in that regard or with respect to any other aspect of this book.
Other points:
¶ Explanatory matter and commentary are clearly set off from the main text so that the reader may decide at a glance whether to consult or to skip such material.
¶ Apologies for the repetition you will encounter if you read through the commentary material. In order to present Jesus' teachings with clarity, the context must be reiterated rather often.
¶ In a number of instances in which Jesus declares, "I am he..." or "I am speaking..." and so on, it is quite likely that a double meaning is intended. That is, we can hear "I am" in the ordinary sense, but we may also hear it as a name of God, I am. (See Exodus 3:14.) In order to indicate this double meaning, I have in many spots placed those two words in italic type.
¶ The word rabbi can mean master, teacher, sir and so on. Literally, rabbi means my great one [ttr.1]. I have used various English phrases to convey the sense, including at one point, the phrase your honor. In fact, in many cases, we cannot be certain what terms were used as the gospel writers in general did not give verbatim accounts.
¶ On capitalization: I don't capitalize son in son of God or son of man.
Maranatha!
Next Page: Section 1
https://secretpath108.blogspot.com/2021/01/wonderful-news-jesus-announced-great.html
When you come to Jesus with a broken and a contrite heart and seek his forgiveness, you have done all you need to do in order to be saved!
You don't need to believe that Jesus is God. You don't need to believe that he is the Son of God in some literalistic sense. You don't need to believe he was born of a virgin. You are not required to first subscribe to the idea of the Trinity. You don't need to be baptized in water before receiving Jesus into your heart.
All you need do is to trust Jesus enough to accept his help. And that means you must believe that God raised Jesus from the dead so that people like you could be saved by the man he appointed to that task.
When the Bible says you must believe Jesus is the Son of God, it means you must believe that this man Jesus can save you, that he is the Savior.
You may come to believe in some or all of the assertions listed above. But none is necessary to get you into God's kingdom. Just trust Jesus to help you out of your sad predicament. That's it!
Why this book is here
The purpose of this book is the furtherance of the good news of salvation.
Readers are encouraged to study the four books of the Bible from which this narrative is drawn: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (and a bit of Acts).
What appears in this book is drawn from Scripture – but this book should not be construed as Scripture.
I have tried to tell a story: a story of Jesus.
So I have not given a word-for-word account of the life of Jesus as portrayed in the four gospels, which would have been an impossible undertaking. Nor have I attempted to write a strictly historical account, another impossibility. My purpose is to get across what Jesus has to say to us today, whether by word or deed. Toward that goal, I have opted for an impressionistic style using modern American idiomatic speech.
And, I have done what I can to weave together the available materials into a plausible whole for ease of reading. But, in most cases, the best we can say of any episode related here is that something like what is reported is what happened.
The teachings and the actions of Jesus were vividly remembered by witnesses who then disseminated them throughout the church. The gospel writers then took that recollected material and used it in their written accounts. They understood that it was the teachings that were important, not the order in which they are given. And, in general, they felt free to paraphrase Jesus when they deemed it necessary.
A few well-known elements of the Jesus story have been omitted. You won't find the infancy narratives here, nor included is John's account of the first encounter of Jesus by Peter and others — simply because I could not think of a way to blend those episodes for a relatively harmonious whole.
You will also find that some of Jesus' words and teachings crop up more than once. In general, that is because a teaching is expounded upon by Jesus or by a gospel writer in more than one way. Hence, it seems the better course to let some repetitions stand. On the other hand, the parallel accounts of what seems to be a single incident do require selectivity and pruning in a work of this sort. That has been done, but explanation of the rationales would require too prolonged a delving into this creative writer's mind. Even so, I will be happy to answer specific questions in that regard or with respect to any other aspect of this book.
Other points:
¶ Explanatory matter and commentary are clearly set off from the main text so that the reader may decide at a glance whether to consult or to skip such material.
¶ Apologies for the repetition you will encounter if you read through the commentary material. In order to present Jesus' teachings with clarity, the context must be reiterated rather often.
¶ In a number of instances in which Jesus declares, "I am he..." or "I am speaking..." and so on, it is quite likely that a double meaning is intended. That is, we can hear "I am" in the ordinary sense, but we may also hear it as a name of God, I am. (See Exodus 3:14.) In order to indicate this double meaning, I have in many spots placed those two words in italic type.
¶ The word rabbi can mean master, teacher, sir and so on. Literally, rabbi means my great one [ttr.1]. I have used various English phrases to convey the sense, including at one point, the phrase your honor. In fact, in many cases, we cannot be certain what terms were used as the gospel writers in general did not give verbatim accounts.
¶ On capitalization: I don't capitalize son in son of God or son of man.
In any event, I hope you enjoy this book and get something out of it. But, when in doubt, check what I have written against the Bible. Even without chapter and verse, you can almost always find what you're looking for by plugging a relevant phrase into a search engine, such as: "woman caught in adultery" or "man healed at pool of Bethesda."¶ On footnotes: Some footnotes link to a supplement to another of my e-books, What is Jesus Really Saying in the Sermon on the Mount? The books overlap and so I direct "mirror" notes to a supplement page that serves both books. In addition, I use an alphanumeric code for each of the footnotes, which generally are not in order. If need be, simply use Control f, or the equivalent, to locate a note.
- In the first case, the term son of God was used by early missionaries as a means of translating the word Messiah for non-Jews. It did not originally mean God the Son (though I believe that that later understanding is doubtless correct). For example, Augustus Caesar, having been adopted by the "god" Julius Caesar, was called a son of god. Among Jews, son of God could refer to an angel or to a human servant of God.
- In the second case, the term son of man was used by Jesus somewhat enigmatically. It might mean "this man here" (referring to himself in the third person), "some man" (but not explicitly himself) or the divinely chosen human deliverer mentioned in the book Daniel. Jesus took pains not to boast about being the Messiah. (Since Messiah is essentially a title, I have decided to — usually — capitalize it.)
That is, the phrase son of is a Semitic idiom to indicate type or category of person. For example, a peacable man would be referred to as a son of peace.
Maranatha!
Next Page: Section 1
https://secretpath108.blogspot.com/2021/01/wonderful-news-jesus-announced-great.html
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