Five-year Bible reading plan for 9 April 2015

King James Version (en)

Romans, Chapter 14, verses 13-23

¹³ but take heed that they give no offence in them, ¹⁵ for that the apostle proveth unlawful by many reasons

¹³Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

¹⁴I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

¹⁵But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

¹⁶Let not then your good be evil spoken of:

¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

¹⁸For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

¹⁹Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

²⁰For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.

²¹It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

²²Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

²³And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Romans, Chapter 16, verses 25-27

²¹ and after sundry salutations endeth with praise and thanks to God

²⁵Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

²⁶But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

²⁷To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.

NOTES

In Yahwism, as in Judaism, the concepts of purity and impurity were key in religious life. At first glance it may appear that these are purely ritual restrictions, partly borrowed from the pagan world. But that is not quite so. The concepts of purity and impurity were connected with those ideas about life and the human being that belonged to pre-exilic Yahwism and then became common in Judaism as well. The Bible describes the human being as a twofold unity, a spiritual-natural creature. God 'breathes' into the human being's 'nostrils' - so it says in the Hebrew text - the breath of life that makes him human. And human life itself is a stream that includes both spiritual and natural components. God's breath of life touches nature in the human being, penetrating it and changing its quality. This stream of life is called by the Hebrew word usually translated into Russian as 'soul.'

Naturally, the intensity and quality of this life stream can vary. In the world and in human life there is something that clogs its channel and slows its flow - this is what biblical language calls impurity or defilement. First of all, of course, a person is defiled by the consequences of committed sin. But in pre-Christian times there were also other things in the world that could defile a person and lead to the shallowing and exhaustion of the stream of his life. Everything connected with death, decay, entropy - all such things diminished the measure of a person's fullness of life and lowered its quality. And in such a state, meeting God became problematic for a person, or even impossible: for in order to meet Him and experience the reality of His presence in the place He Himself had chosen, one already had to possess a certain minimum fullness and intensity of one's own existence. In Sheol, in the realm of the dead, God is not praised because His presence does not reveal itself there: the existence led there by the dead is existence at a minimum, when the stream of life has almost completely dried up. Before the coming of Christ, all this had to be taken into account.

But with Christ the Kingdom entered the world with all its fullness of life, previously unseen and unknown. Now everyone who lives this life no longer needs to fear that some processes in the untransformed world will prevent him from living the whole fullness of the life of the Kingdom. Now only his own sin can hinder a person. And, of course, fear of impurity: for fear often creates its own object. Whoever still fears the impurity of the fallen world will certainly encounter its effect upon himself. But the rest, those who have chosen Christ and the Kingdom, need not worry about this: for the breath of the Kingdom is stronger than any destructive forces of this world.

Preparation for Lent concludes with a reading of Christ's words, handed down to us by the evangelist Matthew, about what fasting and prayer are. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord tells the disciples that fasting and prayer have meaning only...

Paul draws attention to what can destroy peace within a church community. What should be done if faithful Jews, for whom all the religious prescriptions of Judaism are important, and pagans, who...

FAQ

In the Old Testament, there is a prohibition against eating pork. But in practice, no one follows this prohibition. Why?

Strictly speaking, followers of religions of the law, namely Jews and Muslims, continue to adhere to the prohibition against eating pork. However, Christians do, in fact, disregard it...

Strictly speaking, followers of religions of the law, namely Jews and Muslims, continue to adhere to the prohibition against eating pork. However, Christians do, in fact, disregard it. There are several reasons for this, among which one can name one essential and several historical ones.

Essentially: the dietary prohibitions (and a whole series of similar restrictions) of the Old Testament were of a temporary nature and were annulled by the New Testament. In the Old Testament, these prohibitions were primarily aimed at protecting the chosen people from detrimental intermingling with pagans. This purpose was served by a whole complex of ideas regarding ritual purity and prohibitions against mixing one thing with another. Among others, the prohibition against eating pork also served this purpose. The relevance of these prohibitions was lost in the New Testament, primarily due to its universality and openness to all nations. Furthermore, and most importantly, the New Testament places the center of gravity in the worship of God in the spiritual realm, not the ritual one (even if the practical life of Christians poorly reflects this).

"Worship in spirit and truth," of which the Lord Jesus Christ speaks in the 4th chapter of the Gospel of John, goes far beyond the bounds of ritual restrictions. Furthermore, the New Testament views impurity exclusively as the result of sin, considering that "there is nothing unclean of itself," except sin. Therefore, the words of Christ, "There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man... For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts... All these evil things come from within and defile a man" ( 7:15-23) render dietary prohibitions meaningless. A detailed discussion on dietary rituals can also be found in the writings of the Apostle Paul in the 14th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, where the apostle formulates a view on ritual piety in general and dietary prohibitions in particular as a matter of each person's conscience.

The historical reasons for the lifting of the prohibition on eating pork, related to the aforementioned, stem from the fact that already two decades after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ, a significant proportion, if not the majority, of the Church consisted of Christians from among the Gentiles. For them, the prohibition against eating pork was unfounded, and they did not inherit the ritual life of the Old Testament. When the entry of Gentiles into the Church was just beginning, the Lord showed the Apostle Peter in a vision a multitude of foods forbidden to the Jews (presumably including pork). To Peter, who refused all this, it was said: "What God has cleansed you must not call common" ( 10:15).

After a period of disagreements and disputes over whether Gentile Christians should observe the ritual prescriptions of the Mosaic Law, at the Council of Jerusalem in the year 49, the apostles decreed: "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, from sexual immorality, and not to do to others what you would not want done to yourselves. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well" ( 15:28-29). Thus, dietary restrictions and a whole series of other Jewish ritual prescriptions were formally recognized as non-binding for Christians.

Does eating meat contribute to spiritual growth? Please indicate the scriptures in the Bible where God blesses everything for food and where Christ Himself ate meat.

The question is too broad to be given a definitive answer. For each person in specific circumstances, such a question may be answered differently...

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