Timeline for What is the meaning behind Acts 2:44-45?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
12 events
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| Oct 14, 2021 at 3:18 | comment | added | Marshall | @Dave. For me that's the difference between "the law" and "grace". The law commands certain base line behaviours. Grace however calls us higher and asks for much harder things voluntarily. It is through receiving God's grace and divine love we feel compelled to offer these of our own free will. God's grace - his love does more then just forgive our failures. It transforms us from the selfish broken creatures we were into God's likeness and compels us to give more and to do more for the kingdom out of his love | |
| Oct 14, 2021 at 3:13 | comment | added | Marshall | @Dave I dont think we are that far apart I agree with you Jesus teaching is what God always desired but I just think God gave a teaching and law inline with their maturity and what they were capable of following at the time It was the base to build from I do however see the giving of all wealth as slightly different. The laws were "hard requirements". Like tithes and offerings were not optional. In scripture God says people had "stolen from him" when these weren't given. But giving of all wealth is a voluntary choice. An offering. Jesus calls us to make this offering but he doesnt "command it" | |
| Oct 14, 2021 at 2:56 | comment | added | Dave | @xmarshallx Mmm, the concept of being able to get ‘higher’ than the Law would have the Rabbis scratching their head. But I do accept the sermon on the mount took the Law to its ‘highest level’. That’s what I was trying to say. Interpretation is pivotal to Torah, in fact in some ways that’s what it is all about - but, it’s clear we’re not going to agree on this, and I have no issue with that - Cheers! | |
| Oct 14, 2021 at 2:53 | comment | added | Marshall | @Dave And yes you could say Jesus teaching is the true heart for God's desire for mankind ... But its vastly different to the original law the Jews were given. It's a "level up" on anything they had previously been taught by God's prophets. I look at it more like going from primary school to college. The requirements & difficulty aren't the same. You can't say they were always asked to do college level work. They weren't. They were given a higher teaching when Jesus came. Also Jesus never states giving away all wealth as a "commandment" like the laws. It's a request / challenge to the follower | |
| Oct 14, 2021 at 2:44 | comment | added | Marshall | @Dave The law as it is written and was given to the Jewish people by Moses had no requirement to give away all your money. That's point of fact. It did however have requirements to tithe giving the first 10% of your increase to God and also to give specific offerings to God and also to show compassion and generosity for the poor and needy. These weren't "optional" or negotiable. They were seen as compulsory requirements. Jesus sermon on the mount is a call "higher" then the law they had been given. It asks them to go beyond the law they had been given. It's not a repetition of the law | |
| Oct 14, 2021 at 1:58 | comment | added | Dave | @xmarshallx You said … “nor is there anything at all in the law requiring to give away all your money.” - But yes, there is. The problem is we can’t see it, because we ‘just’ read the words - but the Jews could saw it plainly. Think back to the Sermon on the mount, Jesus outlining Torah to its fullest extent. “If your eye offends you - pluck it out”. We would argue that’s not in the Law - but yet it is, in the intent of the Law, that’s what it ‘says’ - (means/requires) - even if it does not ‘say’ that with words. Interpretation was pivotal - that’s what the Rabbis were for! | |
| Oct 14, 2021 at 1:41 | comment | added | Marshall | @Dave - ok but I never attacked being rich - nor is there anything at all in the law requiring to give away all your money. So this action is not to do with Jewish law. I said it was a voluntary choice Jesus "challenged" the rich ruler to do and then come follow him. Jesus clearly didn't think this was impossible as it's the same thing he asked of his apostles and in the very next verse he commends the apostles for having already done this and states they will have greater reward - 100 times as much back for forsaking all and following him and the crown of eternal life. | |
| Oct 11, 2021 at 18:30 | comment | added | Dave | @xmarshallx Thanks for your comment. Yes. The rich young ruler had approached Jesus as a Rabbi, and was seeking eternal life via Torah (the Law). So Jesus spelt out what that would mean, and that that was impossible, as no one could/can keep the Law to its fullest extent. So using this passage to ‘attack’ being ‘rich’ (having money) is using it right out of context. | |
| Oct 11, 2021 at 3:36 | comment | added | Marshall | I would say scripture never says there is an "obligation" to give everything you have to the poor. But Jesus did strongly call people to do this as he did to the rich young ruler where he said doing this would make him "perfect" Eg: Mark 10:21 Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have (F)treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”. It is a voluntary act - but where your treasure is .... Your heart will be also. The act of giving all to the poor means greater treasure in heaven | |
| Oct 10, 2021 at 13:05 | comment | added | Anne | You said (re. the-then forthcoming A.D.70 destruction) "So, why not sell up while ‘the going is good’ - and use the money effectively? They were not going to have their possessions much longer - they were set to lose everything." That made me think of the forthcoming destruction of Babylon the Great in Revelation, and the pouring out of the final plague before Jesus returns in judgment. Wow. Pause for thought, indeed. | |
| Oct 9, 2021 at 18:57 | history | edited | Dave | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 9, 2021 at 18:39 | history | answered | Dave | CC BY-SA 4.0 |