From a letter written by the apostle Paul,
with Sosthenes,
to believers in Corinth and everywhere:
Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price: be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.-1 Corinthians 7:18-24***Ishmael was born to 86-year-old Abraham (Abram the Hebrew) and Hagar, the maidservant of Abraham's wife Sarah (Sarai). When Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham circumcised 13-year-old Ishmael, and Abraham and all the males in Abraham's household were immediately circumcised. Isaac was born to 100-year-old Abraham and 90-year-old Sarah. On the 8th day after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised Isaac. When Isaac was 40 years old, he was married to Rebekah, Abraham and Sarah's grandniece. Fraternal twin sons Esau (Edom) and Jacob (Israel) were born to 60-year-old Isaac and Rebekah. In Padan Aram, Haran, Jacob was married to Leah and Rachel, the daughters of Rebekah's brother Laban the Syrian (Aramean). Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and daughter Dinah were born to Jacob and Leah. Dan and Naphtali were born to Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. Gad and Asher were born to Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's maidservant. Joseph and Benjamin were born to Jacob and Rachel. Miriam and her younger brothers Aaron and Moses were born into the tribe of Levi. When Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83, the Lord God sent them to speak to the Israelite elders and Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. After the Lord God brought the 10th and final plague upon Pharaoh and Egypt, Moses and Aaron led the Israelites, and those with them, away from Egyptian slavery, across the divinely parted Red Sea, and into the desert wilderness of Shur. In the desert wilderness of Sinai, in the region of Mount Sinai, the Israelites heard the voice of the Lord God proclaim the Ten Commandments to them, and the Lord God began giving Moses judgments, statutes and laws for the Israelites. The divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible reveal that the Lord God gave Moses 2 stone tablets, 2 separate times, whereupon were written, with the finger of God, the Ten Commandments. During the 40-year journey to Canaan, the Promised Land, Miriam the prophetess died and was buried in Kadesh, in the desert wilderness of Zin. Upon Mount Hor, 123-year-old Aaron the high priest died. When Moses went upon Mount Nebo, the Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses the prophet died and was divinely buried. Joshua, Moses' aide and successor from the tribe of Ephraim, led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants. In Gilgal, the Israelite males born during the journey were circumcised, according to the command that the Lord God gave Joshua. Over 1,300 years after 110-year-old Joshua died and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, were born. John the Baptist was born into the tribe of Levi to Zechariah (Zacharias) the priest and his wife Elizabeth (Elisabeth). Jesus the Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Elizabeth's relative Mary, a virgin, and Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin. On the 8th day after John the Baptist was born, he was circumcised, and on the 8th day after Jesus the Christ was born, Jesus was circumcised. Approximately 30 years after John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ were born, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Jesus having prayed, the heavens tearing open, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and lit upon Jesus. The Lord God in heaven audibly acknowledged his Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert wilderness. Jesus fasted 40 days and nights and was tempted. Afterwards, Jesus was tended to by angels, and Jesus went to the area near John the Baptist, and John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, and testified that Jesus is the Son of God. In Galilee, Jesus told specific Israelite men to follow him, and Jesus began to preach, teach and perform miracles among the Israelites. Jesus revealed that:
-he had not come to abolish the law or the prophets, he had come to fulfill.
-all the prophets and the law prophesied until John the Baptist, and the law and the prophets were until John the Baptist, and from that time the kingdom of God is proclaimed and everyone forces their way into it.
-the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus the Christ.
-the great and foremost commandment is to love the Lord God with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the 2nd greatest is to love one's neighbor as one's self, and there is no greater commandment.
Less than 3 1/2 years after Jesus was baptized, Jesus and his 12 disciples and apostles were at the Last Supper together, and the disciple and apostle Judas Iscariot left to betray Jesus. Jesus gave the other 11 disciples and apostles the commandment to love each other as he loved them. Jesus told the 11 disciples and apostles that if they loved him they would keep his commandments, and they are his friends if they do what he commands. Shortly thereafter, Jesus was arrested, crucified, buried in a tomb, and resurrected. On the 40th day after Jesus was resurrected, Jesus was returned to heaven. Paul (Saul) was an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin and did not believe Jesus to be the Christ. Throughout Jerusalem, Paul persecuted and imprisoned Israelites who believed Jesus to be the Christ of God. When Paul was journeying to the synagogues in Damascus, Syria, to find, bind, and take to Jerusalem any Israelite believers he found, Paul and those with him saw a light from heaven flash around them. Paul heard the voice of Jesus speaking to him, and Paul spoke to Jesus and obeyed Jesus. In Damascus, Paul was baptized. From thenceforward, Paul the apostle journeyed and wrote divinely inspired letters, teaching Israelites and Gentiles, people not born into the Israelite tribes, the good news of Jesus the Christ and everlasting life. Paul revealed that:
-believers are not under law, believers are under grace,
-Christ Jesus is the end of law for righteousness to everyone believing,
-the one loving the other has fulfilled the law,
-those who bear one another's burdens fulfill the law of Christ,
-the entire law is fulfilled in one word: you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.-Genesis 11:26-50:26, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers 20:1-29, 27:12;23, Deuteronomy, Joshua 1:1-4:24, 1 Chronicles 1:1-34, 2:1-17, 3:1-24, 6:1-81, 8:1-40, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-34, 6:1-8:4, 9:1-28:31
Reference Information:
abide = meneto/meno = remain, continue
called = eklethe/kekletai = kaleo = summoned, invited
care = meleto/melo = object of concern or anxiety
circumcised = peritetmemenos/peritemno = to cut around, to cut off
rather = mallon = all the more, more than
servant = doulos = slave, enslaved, bondman or bondwoman
uncircumcised = epispastho/epispaomai = to draw over, eliminate the mark or appearance of circumcision
use it = chresai/chraomai/chre = take advantage, make use of
Reference Scriptures:
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.-1 Corinthians 6:19-20
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:-1 Peter 1:15-19
Click the link below to read more posts in this category: