Not me Posted October 6, 2019 Group: Royal Member Followers: 14 Topic Count: 513 Topics Per Day: 0.23 Content Count: 3,192 Content Per Day: 1.44 Reputation: 3,356 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/06/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted October 6, 2019 (edited) 21 minutes ago, lftc said: Yes. Knowing him is the only reason for life. Knowing who he really is. Me likes this,,,,, a lot. Blessings as this is truly made real in all of our life’s. In Christ, Not me Edited October 6, 2019 by Not me 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lftc Posted October 6, 2019 Group: Senior Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 20 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 536 Content Per Day: 0.31 Reputation: 323 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/16/2019 Status: Offline Share Posted October 6, 2019 1 hour ago, Not me said: Me likes this,,,,, a lot. Blessings as this is truly made real in all of our life’s. In Christ, Not me Yes, blessings to all 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lftc Posted October 7, 2019 Group: Senior Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 20 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 536 Content Per Day: 0.31 Reputation: 323 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/16/2019 Status: Offline Share Posted October 7, 2019 On 10/5/2019 at 7:08 AM, Melinda12 said: I never noticed before. Jesus extended grace and trust to Peter even knowing he would let Him down and deny him. He forgave him before he did it. When you think about it, it is even bigger. Jesus made Peter the leader of the first assembly in Jerusalem. And then after the resurrection, he had the encounter with Peter that was similar to when he first called Peter: He met Peter, who had gone back to fishing - what else could he do? And he gives the wonderful assurance of Love by asking Peter the same question three times, just like Peter's three denials. But it is even better, The first two times Jesus asked he used the greek word for love that has the transliteration (english readable form): agapaó , commonly called agape love in some english domains. Greek has 4 separate words that get translated into "Love". Agape is the type of Love that is most often used in association with God. It is specifically the Love in 1 COrinthians 13, which does a far better job of defining it than all the lexicons I have seen. Peter responds with the word for Love that has the transliteration: phileó. This word is intended to convey a meaning that we might term as emotional or brotherly love. This is like what a person feels when they think about their friends. Anyone who has lived for very long knows that this type of love changes in an instant as it is based on the current set of emotions a person is experiencing. "I love you forever" - 3 months later after an episode of broken trust: "I hate you. Get out of my life". In Peter's denial, he showed the effects of decision making based on his phileo love for Jesus. His has emotions of uncertainty. He and the others had just a few days before been certain that Jesus was about to do what all Jews believed the Messiah would do: expel the Romans and reestablish a Kingdom of David. They had just watched the triumphal entry. Then Jesus is arrested and clearly on his way to the ending of a criminal. Peter would certainly be uncertain. The powerful surge of phileo from the events of the prior week would vanish, leaving Peter in a state of being that I fight all the time: "but I thought you were the Christ? I thought the Christ would do these things in my life". That uncertainty would be coupled with fear: Peter, indeed anyone alive, would fear falling into the hands of the government. The odds of escaping severe punishment were virtually zero. Fear and uncertainty: phileo evaporates. That is phileo. At least that is how I understand it. So now lets look the exchange with Peter and Jesus over a fish meal: Jesus: Peter, do you agape me more than these fish? Peter: Supreme Master, You know that I phileo you. Jesus: Then take care of my people Jesus goes through it a second time: Jesus: Peter, do you agape me more than these fish? Peter: Supreme Master, You know that I phileo you. Jesus: Then take care of my people Then Jesus asks a third time but changes the question: Jesus: Peter do you phileo me? The passage says that Peter was deeply saddened because Jesus asked him the third time using Phileo. Peter: Supreme Master, you know everything. You know that I phileo you. Jesus gives the same instruction for the third time. ---------- Melinda12 pointed out that Jesus had anticipated Peter's denial and it had not changed Jesus' Love (agape) for Peter. In this restoration of Peter, Jesus demonstrates to Peter the prinicple of agape to Peter. Jesus presents the standard, the goal of Agape Love. Peter, being a freshly destroyed person, does not pretend ability to achieve the standard. Jesus again asserts the standard. Peter chooses the path of honesty and admits he cannot live up to the standard. Jesus then says OK, honest and humble man who can't live up to my standard: I still give you the responsibility to represent me to my people. Peter would never forget this. Well except that he made a mess of the whole law issue in the middle of Acts and had to be once again chastised for failing to truly believe in Grace. So Jesus excluded him from the Kingdom of Heaven after that. The Kingdom of Heaven excludes failures to live up to the standards. Last paragraph just a sarcastic test to emphasize that that is NOT how the Kingdom of Heaven works. Peter is one of the justly revered men, as he continued in his love (whichever happens to be working at the moment) of Jesus. I don't like the mortal ending of his story as he was crucified by the authorities (those that claim authority). But, in this story, I see a powerful continuation of the principle that Melinda12 started. Note: A language expert of great reputation, who is being put through his own personal Diet of Worms in another topic on this forum, wrote a highly regarded book on the subject of these 4 Loves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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