Matthew 5:19-20

By pastortimgraf Wed, 05/25/2011 - 10:43pm
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pastortimgraf
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first time post since the "new" sharper iron. Preaching through the book of Matthew and ran into what D.A. Carson says is one of the most difficult verses in Scripture. It seems that vs. 19a is warning against the "left" ditch of an "antinomianish" type thinking, vs. 19b is expressing what is expected, and vs. 20 is warning against the "right" ditch of legalism. My questions to you are; 1) why is the person who annuls the commandments still in the kingdom? 2) Throughout Scripture God tantalizes us with rewards and expresses "hiearchy" in heaven, vs. 19 is one. With these "tantalizations" the motivations of a Christian can become questionable. "I want a reward, crown, or to be great in heaven, therefore I will do right". Shouldn't the love and fear of God motivate us, not those things. Right? So why does God use them? Biblical Imput would be appreciated.

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Sun, 06/05/2011 - 10:01pm
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Jimmy Anderson
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God's Love and Grace.

I hope my input will be of some help. I see that verse 20 does answer verse 19 yet could be further explained with what Jesus says in Luke 11:39 "And the Lord said to him, Indeed ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup, and the platter; but the inward part is full of ravening and wickedness." This then leads us to understand what Paul explains to us in Romans 5:17 "... much more shall they which receive that abundance of grace, and of that gift of that righteousness..." Our righteousness is a gift that we receive from God, by faith, through grace. It is not of ourselves to be righteous.

As for being "tantalized" by God and the motives of some christians, let us first look at Hebrews 12:28 "wherefore seeing we receive a kingdom, which cannot be shaken, let us have grace where by we may so serve God, that we may please Him with reverance and fear." So, I say yes, you are very much correct. Why does God use these? My best response to that is, to show us that His love and grace toward us is unending. As for the motives of some, if they are not to glorify the Lord, then God, Himself, knows that. If we can see that a brother or sister is seeking "vainglory" then we should pray for them and lead and assist them as in Galatians 6:1 and Hebrews 12:15.

God's love and grace should be our motivation. Just like having a job where my only motivation to show up is a pay check, my employeer would only pay me enough to justify my being there. But, if I treated his business as my own, and preformed as to grow the business, I'm rewarded with bonuses that I'm not looking for. (ref. Colossians 3:23).

(all scriptures are from 1599 Geneva Bible)

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Mon, 06/06/2011 - 8:29am
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Jimmy Anderson
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Matt. 5:19

After reviewing this post again this morining and some more research (I felt there was some oversight on my part) I did find, what I believe to be your answer for verse 19. I Corinthians 3:13-15 says "Every man's work shall be made maifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by the fire: and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work, that he hath built upon, abide, he shall receive wages. If any man's work burn, he shall lose, but he shall be saved himself: nevertheless yet as it were by the fire."

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