Some Key Words (11/3/00)

Desire (eudokia [2107]):

an appearing well, good will, good pleasure, a willingness to do something good, benevolence, that which pleases, a tendency towards goodness; choice, kindly intent, delight, pleasure, satisfaction, a desire for something absent producing a longing for it; wish, purpose

Salvation (soteria [4991]):

deliverance, preservation; safety, the present possession of all true Christians, the future redemption from all earthly ills at Christ's return; rescue

Witness (martureo [3140]):

to bear witness, testify, to confirm; to affirm what one has seen, heard, or experienced, to not keep back testimony, to give a good report;

Zeal (zelos [2205]):

an honorable emulation and imitation of that which seems excellent; an excitement of mind, ardor, envy, rivalry, jealousy;

Knowledge (epignosis [1922]):

clear and exact knowledge, intense knowledge with a thorough participation in the object, knowledge which profoundly influences religious life, laying claim to our sympathies and influencing our very nature; precise and correct knowledge of things ethical and divine; full discernment

Not knowing (agnoeo [50]):

not to recognize, unacquainted with, ignorance, to be mistaken, lacking discernment, to commit a fault due to such lack of discernment; not to know or understand, to sin through mistake; to ignore

Righteousness (dikaiosune [1343]):

the essence of that which is just or righteous, fulfilling God's claims, conformance with the claims of God, the state commanded by God; the state of one who is as he ought to be, the condition acceptable to God, integrity, virtue, correct thoughts, feelings, and actions; equity, Christian justification

Establish (histemi [2476]):

to set, place, stand, remain, abide, continue, stop, make to stand, confirm, stand firm, agree, covenant; to cause to stand, stand by, to place, to make firm, to fix in place, to uphold or sustain the authority of a thing, to place in the balance, to stand still, stand immovable, to be ready and prepared, to be of steadfast mind, to not waiver

Subject (hupotasso [5293]):

to place in orderly fashion under, to submit, a relationship to one's superiors - whether voluntary or compulsory; to subordinate, to put in subjection, to obey, to submit to one's control, to yield to advice, to be subject, a military style arrangement of troop divisions under a leader, a voluntary attitude of cooperation;

 

Paraphrase: (11/3/00)

1 I long for and pray for the salvation of the Jews. 2 To their credit, they are indeed zealous after God. Unfortunately, that zeal is not guided by understanding. 3 And, since they do not understand God's righteousness, and have created their own standard of righteousness instead, they have not been subject to the righteousness of God.

Key Verse: (11/3/00)

10:2 - The problem is a lack of knowledge - zeal unguided. Hungering after God is insufficient when it lacks understanding.

People Mentioned: (11/3/00)

N/A

Some Parallel Verses (11/3/00)

10:1
10:2

Ac 21:20 - The apostles rejoiced at Paul's report concerning the Gentiles, and offered their own praise report regarding the thousands of Jewish believers, who remained zealous after the Law, but by faith in Christ.

10:3

Ro 1:17 - God's righteousness is revealed by faith and to faith, by which the righteous man lives. Is 51:1 - Those who pursue righteousness should look to the example of Abraham and Sarah. Ro 11:7 - Those whom God has chosen have attained righteousness. Those whom He has not chosen have been made incapable of understanding.

 

New Thoughts (11/4/00)

Have I attempted to define my own standard? Doubtless. How? Every time I speak in judgment of another, I have set my own standard. I have in part spoken my judgment of them in hopes of making my own guilt look less guilty. God help me! I know that the things that bother me most in others are the things I, myself am doing wrong. I know I stop well short of Your standard of righteousness, Lord, and am quite happy to have managed the level I have managed. Every 'look at me,' every 'look at what he did,' every "I'm alright" speaks of my own standards, not Yours. Your standards say 'look to Me. Look at what I am doing in your life, in his life.' Your standards say 'no, you're not alright, but I love you anyway, and I'll help you with that.' When will it end, Lord? When will this pridefulness be done away with? I know that this sinfulness will accompany me to the end, Father, but I hate it! I hate it when my words hurt those I love. I hate it when the anger wells up in me over things that don't measure up to my standards. What will it take, God? What will it take to burn this out of me? I don't want to stand before You with this habit intact, nor could I so stand. I know that I have an Advocate in Your house. I know that even as I am writing this, He is speaking to You on my behalf, He is declaring a truth that is beyond my simple facts. And for this I am most thankful, Lord. To know You hear. To know that, unlike me, You can be merciful in the face of unmet standards. Unlike me, You can see the heart behind the failure, and work with it. Work with it, oh my Father. Work with this heart, such as it is, and make it such as it ought to be. You have declared it so, now I pray You make Your declaration manifest in me, that this life might stand as a testimony to Your goodness, Your mercy, Your power, and Your truth.

Unguided zeal, which comes from not understanding, points to a lack of study, an unwillingness to be diligent in pursuing what God has already revealed. Why then would one expect to be shown more? We live in an age when everybody wants the new revelation, the direct word from God. It's not the first time in church history when this has been the case, and it may not be the last. Do You still speak directly to Your children? I'm sure You do. I'm equally certain that Satan and his workers also speak directly to Your children. I'm not so certain that we know how to spot the difference. Do You still bring fresh revelations? Perhaps, perhaps. Or are we not satisfied with the illumination of Your Word that shows us what we hadn't seen before? Illumination is humbling, for it forces us to admit that we didn't understand. Revelation sets us up as something special before man - the ones who hear direct from the throne. We've become junkies for new revelations, God. Forgive us. We, too, have gone off in our zealous pursuit of You without understanding You. We have the experience of Your visits, we have the feelings, we have the excitement of the chase. But we have, by and large, abandoned studying to show ourselves approved in favor of the flash of insight. We've opted for learning by dreams and vain imaginations, finding connections that don't really exist, because we've failed to actually read and listen to what You have plainly said. Sadly, our own flashes of 'brilliance' are more exciting to us than the warm glow of Your revealed will. Father, help us, as a body, to return to our senses. Help us to sit under the full counsel of Your Word, not just the parts that excite us. Keep us, oh God, from burying the truth in mysticisms, for in doing that, we are as guilty as the nonbeliever of hiding Your truth. God, You know I long for balance. I hunger to keep away from extremes. I don't want to lean so far into studying that I become pedantic, nor do I want to find I've set up my standard of study as the measure of righteousness. I just want to be careful. I want to know Your voice because I've heard it, and I want to know Your voice because it speaks in one accord with what You have already spoken. There's nothing new under the sun, You have said. In light of that, help us to stop seeking the new things, and to seek instead what has always been You.