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Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 17.7

14 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Marcus Aurelius, Philosophy, Uncategorized

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Family, Greek, Greek Translation, Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Philosophy

These are some additional benefits which Marcus Aurelius counted as having received from the gods: the strength of his body; two instances of controlling his behavior; spending time with his mother.

That my body prevailed against such a life as this.

That I did not touch Benedicta or Theodotus: but when erotic passion happened, I returned to health.

While Rusticus repeatedly irritated me, I did nothing for which I would later repent.

It came about that the one who gave me birth, died young; nevertheless she lived with me during her final years.

Greek Text and Notes:

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Fellowship in Psalm 15

08 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in John, John Calvin, Psalms

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adoption, Family, Fellowship, household code, John, John 14, John Calvin, John Calvin, love, Obedience, Psalm 15, Psalms

Psalm 15 may be understood to preach salvation by behavior, but such a reading would make heaven a hotel to be earned. Rather, we must see the Psalm speaking of a home in which one may live happily:

He who would dwell with God in His house must adapt himself to the arrangements of God’s house.—We may be invited to God’s house and table and yet not gain the enjoyment of that which God offers us.—To desire communion with God and transgress the commands of God are irreconcilable with one another; for vice separates God and man from one another.—He who truly has and seeks communion with God, has and seeks communion likewise with the pious, but avoids the society of the ungodly. The law remains constantly valuable as a mirror, bar and bridle.—He who wishes to dwell forever with God, must inquire after God in time and seek intercourse with God on earth, and for this purpose use the means of grace offered by God according to the order of salvation.

John Peter Lange, Philip Schaff, Carl Bernhard Moll et al., A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Psalms (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 119. I do not seek the manner of life as a means of manipulation or to earn a seat with Christ. Rather, I seek relationship with God and it is in the manner of one’s life that the communion is grows.

My children do not become children by behavior – yet God’s children are adopted into a home (Rom. 8:15). However, our relationship will be affected by their behavior. I may spend a joyous time of fellowship or a time of correction: both spring from love and both seek the good of our fellowship. But the means of expressing my love differ.

Now anyone who truly has come into God’s family will seek by all means to love and thus obey:

21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. John 14:21–24 (ESV)

We get off on the wrong foot if we think of obedience to the words of Christ as obeying traffic laws. I obey the laws specifically to avoid contact with the government. For the Christian obedience is a means of worship, it is a means of pursuing fellowship with the God of creation.

Calvin, commenting on John 14:21c, writes:

And I will manifest myself to him. Knowledge undoubtedly goes before love; but Christ’s meaning was, “I will grant to those who purely observe my doctrine, that they shall make progress from day to day in faith;” that is, “I will cause them to approach more nearly and more familiarly to me.” Hence infer, that the fruit of piety is progress in the knowledge of Christ; for he who promises that he will give himself to him who has it rejects hypocrites, and causes all to make progress in faith who, cordially embracing the doctrine of the Gospel, bring themselves entirely into obedience to it. And this is the reason why many fall back, and why we scarcely see one in ten proceed in the right course; for the greater part do not deserve that he should manifest himself to them. It ought also to be observed, that a more abundant knowledge of Christ is here represented as an extraordinary reward of our love to Christ; and hence it follows that it is an invaluable treasure.

John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on the Gospel According to John (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), Jn 14:21–24. Obedience is a means of approach, it is a vantage point from which we can see Christ, it is a home in which we can rest with him.

This then speaks to the motivation to pursue obedience. Obedience to Christ is not the obedience of slave to master, but rather like one who follows the map to a friend’s house. There is nothing servile about following directions to gain a friend’s company.

Biblical Counseling Takes Place Within the Family

26 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Timothy, Accountability, Biblical Counseling, Discipleship

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1 Timothy, 1 Timothy 5, Accountability, Biblical Counseling, Church Discipline, confrontation, Discipleship, Family, love, Love, MacArthur, Matthew 18, Sin

1 Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity. 1 Timothy 5:1–2 (ESV)

Counseling and confrontation are not encounters between professionals and clients; it is an act of mutual love and concern between members of the same family.  Indeed, John MacArthur labels this section of his commentary on 1 Timothy, “Confronting Sin in the Spiritual Family.”

First, the overview:

But before going into specific areas, Paul sets out guidelines indicating how Timothy should relate to four different types of people.

• AN OLDER MAN SHOULD NOT BE REBUKED BUT ENCOURAGED ‘as you would a father’. This does not mean that he cannot be corrected. The ‘rebuke’ Paul speaks of is an expression of strong disapproval. The New International Version expresses well the force of what Paul says by translating it as ‘rebuke … harshly’. If an older man needs correction, Timothy should not be disrespectful or condescending towards him. Instead, he should come alongside him and treat him with the kind of respect he would show to his own father.

• YOUNGER MEN ARE TO BE TREATED LIKE BROTHERS. He should help, support and encourage them.

• OLDER WOMEN SHOULD BE TREATED LIKE MOTHERS, with respect and care.

• YOUNGER WOMEN MUST BE TREATED LIKE SISTERS, ‘in all purity’. Timothy must not play games with their affections, flirt with them or look at them lustfully. He should treat them with the same kind of innocence that he would show to his sister.

These are timeless principles which will help us to keep good relationships with people in our own church family. Let us make sure that we treat those older than we are with the same respect we should show to our parents, that we come alongside and encourage people who are the same age as we are, and that we treat members of the opposite sex with purity.

Simon J. Robinson, Opening Up 1 Timothy, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2004), 85-86.

In giving these instructions, Paul was training Timothy in such a manner to present a model of godliness. First, Timothy was required to present a model of Christian love, which would declare that those in the church were indeed disciples of Jesus (John 13:34-35). Second, he was to act in demonstrative love toward those in the congregation. Paul himself described love remarkable forbearance and kindness (1 Cor. 13:4-7). Here, Paul lays out the elements of that love in a particular context. Third, Paul taught Timothy how to act in such a way that those in congregation would have a pattern to imitate themselves. The pastor, the elder, the counselor, the more mature sister or brother are to live in such a way that others can see and imitate their conduct (1 Cor. 11:1):

Paul wanted the action of Timothy and the church toward these various groups to win the esteem of the largely heathen population in Ephesus. Proper behavior toward all of these groups demanded respect, compassion, and the giving of financial help where needed. Christians who did this would demonstrate a life-style the pagan population could understand and admire.

Paul and his readers were aware of the spiritual sense in which Christians were related to one another as brothers and sisters (Mark 3:31–35). Paul requested treatment that recognized these family relationships. In giving these directions, Paul was aware of Timothy’s youthfulness; and he wanted Timothy to avoid disrespect, insecurity, or temptation to immorality.

5:1 In dealing with the older men116 Paul urged Timothy to avoid a harsh, insensitive treatment which would not appreciate their age. The term “rebuke,” mentioned here only in the New Testament, describes a severe verbal pounding. Such treatment would show no appreciation for age. The youthful Timothy faced a ticklish situation in appealing to older men, but differences of age did not make admonition to these men any less necessary.

Timothy was not to talk down to younger men, but he was to treat them as equals. The term “exhort” demands a kindlier, more considerate approach than the previously denounced “rebuking.” Those who err would need to receive some rebuke for their behavior, but Timothy was to avoid a pompous approach in relating to them.

…5:2 Paul directed Timothy to treat the older women respectfully as mothers (cf. Rom 16:13). A church leader would find it virtually impossible to heap verbal abuse on an older woman if he showed personal respect for her.

Younger women posed a special problem for Timothy. He was to treat them as sisters and maintain a purity which would banish all evil in thought and deed. The lack of purity among the younger women may have caused special problems for the entire Ephesian church (see 2 Tim 3:6–7; 1 Tim 5:11). The word “purity” calls for modesty and chastity in all relationships.

Paul intended to mold Timothy into a wise leader who could deal individually with his flock. He did not want Timothy only to give admonitions. He wanted him to provide an example which other Ephesian Christians could imitate.

Thomas D. Lea and Hayne P. Griffin, vol. 34, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 144-45.

 

 

The Blessing of Fearing the Lord.24

09 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Psalms

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blessing, Family, fear of the Lord, Fearing the Lord, Psalm 128, Psalms

Psalm 128;

1 Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!
2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.

The Fatherhood of God and Individualism in the Church

24 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Carl F Henry

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Carl F Henry, Church, community, Family, Father, God, individualism

The fact that divine paternity in the New Testament has individual believers in mind in a way not found in the Old Testament economy represents a remarkable spiritual advance. But it also constitutes a high risk, that of neglecting the parallel fact of God’s fatherhood of the family—not just the family of mankind on the ground of creation, but especially the family of believers on the ground of redemption. God’s interest in individuals is not at the expense of the entire community of believers, but for its good. The New Testament presents Jesus Christ the risen Lord as the head of the body of believers (1 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 4:15, 5:23; Col. 1:18); it declares also that the Father “gave him to be the head over all” (Eph. 1:22, kjv) and that “the head of Christ is God” (1 Cor. 11:3, kjv). By God’s grace the regenerate brotherhood of the church is the new community, one that knows and communicates the only enduring hope of social order; this it does as an international, interracial and intercultural family. It remains for Christian churches, divided as they are by doctrinal and ecclesiastical disunity, to exhibit convincingly to the world just what adoption into the family of the redeemed truly means in terms of community concern. That many organized churches reflect little more than a Sunday morning regrouping of problem-ridden secular society is a great tragedy. But where churches proclaim new birth and new life in Christ, where they comprise a fellowship of love and peace and of moral power and joy and are concerned for personal and public integrity, there they will extend to the world a far better hope and way than that proffered by the status quo with its frustration-born revolutionary clamor for change.

Carl F. Henry
God, Revelation and Authority
Vol VI, The Fatherhood of God

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