“Love me,
worship me; adore me; exalt me; thank me; pray to me, eat the Lord’s supper in
remembrance of me; totally depend on me and think on me every second of the day
for dying for your sins.”
“But please
stop following me as your everyday example in Christian living … trying
to be like me … I was the Jewish Son of man preaching the
works in Sermon on the Mount.”
“Furthermore,
please follow Paul … he’s the Christian not me … do what he says
… he has his gospel of the kingdom of God … I only came to set up the kingdom
of heaven for Israel as the Son of man!”
“You will
be following me if you follow and obey Paul.”
The average
response from a Christian is “Duh? Wha’? Huh? Der? Waz’ Zat? ‘Scuse me? I’m not
to follow Jesus? That don’t make sense!”
Now, not
reading their Bible, Christians are to reminded again and again, that we are to
follow Jesus but NOT DIRECTLY … he was a Jew.
Paul shows
us how as Christians to follow Christ with Paul as the ensample with “Be ye followers
of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 11:1)
Why?
Because Christ was Jew who obeyed and fulfilled Jewish laws and customs.
Put it this
way … Paul sieves out the Jewish ‘bits’ and the kingdom of heaven doctrine in
the Sermon on the Mount, while substituting God’s sound doctrine for Christians.
Indeed, Paul
says that he has the commandments of God for Christians as follows …
“If any man
think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the
things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.”
(1 Corinthians 14:37).
Note: Paul’s
commandments are contained in his 13 Books of the New Testament written to
churches and Christians.
Paul goes
on with …
“Circumcision
is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the
commandments of God.”
(1 Corinthians 7:19) … that is … Paul’s commandments.
Note: Paul’s
commandments as contained in his 13 Books of the New Testament.
and again …
He adds the
further reminder with “For ye know
what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:2)
Note: Paul’s
commandments as contained in his 13 NT books
In addition,
the Ten Commandments have also been ‘rewritten’ in Paul’s books with a different
emphasis of language as befitting a kind parent entreating his son
or daughter … rather than a stern “Thou shalt not …” for those under the curse
of the Law.
Last but
not least, dozens and dozens of Paul’s Christian commandments from the Lord, have
been added in his books.
Jesus outlines
the following reasons for Christians not to follow him:
1. “When on
earth, I was a Jew” … not a Christian (Hebrews 7:14)
2. “The
reason I came to earth was to save Israel from their sins” … which does not
apply to Christians (Matthew 1:21)
3. “I endorsed
synagogue worship for Jews” … not Christians (Mark 14:49)
4. “I went to
the temple on Saturdays … the Sabbath” … Christians worship on
the first day of the week in remembrance of Christ rising on the 8th
day being Sunday (Matthew 12:8)
5. “I
abstained from eating pork” … which does not apply to Christians (Matthew
5:17)
6. “I did
not eat unclean animals” … which does not apply to Christians (Matthew
5:17)
6. “I did not
eat blood” … which does not apply to Christians (Matthew
5:17)
7. “I approved
of blood animal sacrifice for the remission of sin” … which does not
apply to Christians … as we have redemption from sins (Romans 3:25;
Colossians 1:14)
8. “I
fulfilled the Ten Commandments” … which does not apply to
Christians. As mentioned Paul ‘restates’ them for Christians (Matthew 5:17)
9. “I had ‘long’
hair under the Law” … which does not apply to Christians, as it’s a shame
for a man to have long hair (Leviticus 19:27; 1 Corinthians 11:14))
10. “I came
to set up my kingdom of heaven here on earth” … Paul has his gospel
of the kingdom of God (Matthew chapters 5-7)
11. “If
people would have believeth in me when I was on earth, they would go to Abraham’s
bosom upon death” … which does not apply to Christians, as we
enter directly into heaven upon death (John 3:16; Luke 16:22)
12. “I came
to earth to show Israel, that I was approved of by God with
signs, wonders and miracles” … which does not apply to Christians (Acts
2:22)
13. “I came
to set up the kingdom of heaven dispensation which has now been finished
for about 2,000 years” … which does not apply to Christians (Matthew
chapters 5-7)
… and the
list goes on.
Dear
Reader, which Christian in their right mind directly follows the Jesus the Jew?
None.
Put it this
way, now as Christians spiritually baptised into the death of Jesus, it’s as if
the Lord Jesus Christ drags us along as ‘dead weights’ (check out
1 Corinthians 11:28-31,32) … and occasionally
… we might co-operate … as Paul the Schizophrenic eloquently puts
it in several verses …
“14 For we
know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that
which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that
do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is
good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (THAT IS, IN MY FLESH,) dwelleth
no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is
good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil
which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that,
when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the
law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but
with the flesh the law of sin.”
(Romans 7:14-17,18-19,20-23,24-25)
“Oh, but
that’s when he was an unsaved man!” shouts the Peanut Gallery.
No Dear
Reader, that’s Paul as a saved man.
See that?
Paul’s feels like a SCHIZO … a saved soul trapped in sinful flesh … as
succinctly stated in Colossians 2:11 … he delights in God’s laws, but is beset
with his flesh.
The Peanut
Gallery again “Oh! That’s not us!” … totally unaware of their self=righteousness.
In conclusion:
1. Although
it sounds a paradox, Christians, being in Christ, are predestinated to
be conformed to the image of God’s Son (Romans 8:29), while we imitate and follow
Paul as an ensample.
2. Christ
tells us that we will be following him, if we follow Paul and Paul’s
commandments … with Paul’s kingdom of God doctrine.
3. For the
Jew about 2,000 years ago, and for approximately three years, it was the
opposite, as the Jews were to follow Christ as the Son of man on earth, under
his kingdom of heaven doctrine (Matthew chapters 5-7).
4. For Jew
or Gentile, saved or unsaved, it is no longer possible to follow Christ
… it is now a past dispensation.
5. Christians now honour and obey the Lord Jesus Christ as we follow Paul.
************************
Harley
Hitchcock
August
2024
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