Acts 16: Paul pits the Spirit of Jesus vs the Holy Spirit

 Acts 16: Paul pits the Spirit of Jesus vs the Holy Spirit (before the Trinity) *

[Note: When reading Bible passages, I apply Genesis-1 perspective. I think Genesis 1:28, in the-metaphysical-Jesus (JESUS) perspective, suggests that, given each 1) mysterious-God, offering appreciation and 2) JESUS, proposing peace, male unites-to female human-being and their spouse-hood pursues comprehensive-safety& security (SECURITY) to the living species and to the earth. Every person can& may accept personal duty to SECURITY. Some persons neglect each appreciation, peace& SECURITY.

I call Genesis-1’s message “responsible-human-independence” or RHI. A few human-beings (noun) throughout history practiced, facilitated, and encouraged RHI. The RHI-individuals from the past are our friends and the others, not so much. I think the authentic-Jesus practiced, facilitated, and encouraged RHI. But I don’t know.

Appreciating contemporary human being (verb) during each generation constitutes the-metaphysical-Jesus I advocate. In other words, I attribute to JESUS the civic-appreciation that human being (verb) applied “before Abraham was born” and since then. Given the question, “Was Jesus a man?”, my response, “I don’t know yet value JESUS”, seems sufficient& complete. I accept that I don’t know and am glad I no longer find that hard to do.

Rather than continue bemusement, I propose, with appreciation, to accept the mystery of God, in order to pursue conformity to the-laws-of-physics (PHYSICS), leaving peace to Jesus’ reported promise. It seems PHYSICS constrains the consequences of each person’s choices.]

Word study:

Christ 1: Jesus-

God 5: the Most High- 1 (seems annoying talk by a demon)

Jesus 12: the Spirit of –

Lord 4: -Jesus 1

Spirit 5: 3 lower case, 2 upper case; Holy- 1

Acts 16: Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra [now Turkey, south of Ankara], where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. [This may be my greatest objection to Paul: judging other citizens’ pursuits.] ² The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. ³ Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey [arbitrary authoritarianism, not necessarily Jesus’s suggestions]. ⁵ So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia

⁶ Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia [halfway to the Aegean Sea from Iconium] and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. ⁷ When they came to the border of Mysia [north from Phrygia in Turkey], they tried to enter Bithynia [further north and east in Turkey], but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to [Is Paul contesting the Trinity?]. ⁸ So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. ⁹ During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia [NW of Greece] standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

¹¹ From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. ¹² From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

¹³ On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴ One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁵ When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Paul and Silas in Prison

¹⁶ Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” ¹⁸ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. [Three lower case “spirit” and 2 upper case in V 6&7.]

¹⁹ When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. ²⁰ They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹ by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

²² The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. ²³ After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴ When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. ²⁷ The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord [Jesus?] to him and to all the others in his house. ³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. ³⁴ The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

³⁵ When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” ³⁶ The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”

³⁷ But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

³⁸ The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. ³⁹ They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left. [Between Jews or Roman citizens, believe in God or believe in the Lord Jesus, annoyance with servants of the Most High God, and claims against the magistrates, and seeming contention with the Trinity, this is quite a salad bowl of allegiances. I don’t trust either Paul’s writing or Paul.]

[I don’t support using mystery to hinder pondering Jesus’ creativity. I’ll keep working for transparency (borrowing a word Chris Nalepa teaches).]

* Online at ucg.org/bible-study-tools/booklets/is-god-a-trinity/the-surprising-origins-of-the-trinity-doctrine:

“Professor Ryrie, also cited earlier, writes, "In the second half of the fourth century, three theologians from the province of Cappadocia in eastern Asia Minor [today central Turkey] gave definitive shape to the doctrine of the Trinity" (p. 65). They proposed an idea that was a step beyond Athanasius' view—that God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit were coequal and together in one being, yet also distinct from one another.

These men—Basil, bishop of Caesarea, his brother Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus—were all "trained in Greek philosophy" (Armstrong, p. 113), which no doubt affected their outlook and beliefs (see "Greek Philosophy's Influence on the Trinity Doctrine").”

 

Romans 8; Paul argues Spirit instead of Jesus

Romans 8; Paul argues Spirit instead of Jesus

Key word study

Christ Jesus 4 [I don’t know who besides Paul wrote “Christ Jesus” rather than “Jesus Christ”, as in John Chapter 1.]

Christ 10 [“Christ” is a title, not name. It means “anointed” and expresses the Jews’ messiah.]

Jesus 5

[Note: When reading Bible passages, I apply Genesis-1-RHI perspective (see below). I think Genesis 1:28, in the-metaphysical-Jesus (JESUS) perspective, suggests that, given each 1) mysterious-God offering appreciation and 2) JESUS proposing peace, male unites-to female human-being and their spouse-hood pursues comprehensive-safety& security (SECURITY) to the living species and to the earth. Every person can& may accept personal duty to SECURITY. Some persons neglect each appreciation, peace& SECURITY.

I call Genesis-1’s message “responsible-human-independence” or RHI. A few human beings throughout history practiced, facilitated, and encouraged RHI. The RHI-individuals from the past are our friends and the others, not so much.

Contemporary human being (verb) appreciation during each generation constitutes the-metaphysical-Jesus I advocate. In other words, I attribute to JESUS the civic-appreciation that human being (verb) applied “before Abraham was born”. Given the question, “Was Jesus a man?”, my response, “I don’t know yet value JESUS”, seems sufficient& complete. I accept that I don’t know.   

Rather than continue bemusement, I propose, with appreciation, to accept the mystery of God, in order to pursue conformity to the-laws-of-physics (PHYSICS), leaving peace to Jesus’ reported promise. It seems PHYSICS constrains the consequences of each person’s choices.]

Romans 8: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you [singular] free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, [human can& may] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. [In other words, if you are not elect by God, you are doomed to the flesh.] ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. [Paul sets in competition the Spirit of God versus the Spirit of Christ, leaving Jesus in neglect.] ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. [Again, Jesus is left out of this sentence.] ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. [This sentence expresses bodily resurrection rather than spiritual ascension into heaven.]

¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. ? [Jesus neglected again.]

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. [This is Paul’s convoluted notion that God can only hope. On the other hand, we can only hope most people will accept the duty that is suggested in Genesis 1:28: pursue SECURITY.]

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. [We do not have SECURITY, because we have not accepted God’s grace and Jesus’ peace in order to constrain chaos in our personal way of living, per Genesis 1:28.]

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. [Is this the Spirit of God or of Christ? I did not make the distinction: Paul did, above.]

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called [Paul is too weak to be specific about responsibility for this calling. I would prefer “making a choice” to consider Jesus’ advice.] according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. [Fellow citizens who have no patience with my opinions can& may be comforted, through Paul’s notion that I am neither predestined, called, justified, or glorified for the purpose Paul imagines. I choose to consider and advocate Jesus’ suggestions for civic-integrity.]

More Than Conquerors

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [I prefer Dylan-singing to Paul-writing: youtube.com/watch?v=5y2FuDY6Q4M.] ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” [God’s chosen claim they are victims.]

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Paul egregiously overworks love. Human being (verb) can appreciate God’s grace, forget the Judeo-Christian squabble over “Christ” and “Lord”, and discover the-good we can together develop from the-metaphysical-Jesus.]

 

Luke 16 accept the mystery of God and conform to PHYSICS

 

Luke 16 accept the mystery of God and conform to PHYSICS

[When reading Bible passages, I develop Genesis-1-RHI perspective. I think Genesis 1:28, in the-metaphysical-Jesus (JESUS) perspective, suggests that, given each mysterious-God offering appreciation and JESUS proposing peace, male unites-to female human-being and their spouse-hood pursues comprehensive-safety& security (SECURITY) to the living species and to the earth. Every person can& may accept personal duty to SECURITY, and some persons resist appreciation& peace.

I call Genesis-1’s message “responsible-human-independence” or RHI. A few human beings throughout history practiced, facilitated, and encouraged RHI. The RHI-individuals from the past are our friends and the others, not so much.

Contemporary human being appreciation in each generation constitutes the-metaphysical-Jesus I advocate. In other words, I attribute to JESUS the insight that human being appreciation applied “before Abraham was born”. Given the question, “Was Jesus a man?”, my response, “I don’t know yet value JESUS”, seems sufficient& complete.   

Rather than continue bemusement, I propose, with appreciation, to accept the mystery of God, in order to pursue conformity to the-laws-of-physics (PHYSICS). It seems PHYSICS constrains the consequences of each person’s choices.]

16 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man [master, below] whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. ² So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

³ “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— ⁴ I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

⁵ “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

⁶ “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ [Falsifying the ledger to 50%?]

⁷ “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ [Falsifying the ledger to 80%?]

⁸ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. ⁹ I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. [Friendship cannot be bought.]

¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? [This makes no sense. People who know you falsified the ledger know you cannot be trusted.]

¹³ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” [This contradicts a reported Jesus-quote in Matthew 22:21 or Luke 20:25, “[So/Then] give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”]

¹⁴ The Pharisees [proud keepers of Moses’ law], who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. ¹⁵ He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. [Luke’s story seems un- redeemable. However, the JESUS lesson that squeezes past Luke’s muddy reasoning, may inform the Pharisees that falsifying the ledger seems clever: PHYSICS eventually exposes lies& liars. In other words, cleverness seems gratifying yet is not in a person's self-interest. See a new notion to me, at the end.]

Additional Teachings

¹⁶ “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it. ¹⁷ It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

¹⁸ “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. [New marriage exacerbates divorce by discouraging divorcee and divorce reunion.]

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

[This is 3,000 years later, and this mysterious coercion has proven ineffectual: no one who could lead humankind to SECURITY cares to do so. In other words, no leader fears Hades. The-civic-people, We the People of the United States, can& may stop supporting the Hades myth, leaving it to its origins.]

²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

[I know no PHYSICS of soul: my speculation about soul would be folly.

This chapter in Luke suggests that humankind has, in sequence, literature from various civilizations and times:

Sumer, who among polytheisitic and philosophical civilizations took charge of SECURITY yet noursihed individual city gods.

Sumerian city gods aided development of monotheism without humility toward PHYSICS.

The Hebrew monotheism was about earthly kingdom.

The Christian Trinity directly competed. Christian sects compete within Christianity.

Europe made war over Christian branches and America extended it.

The U.S. can restore its 1787 intentions: separate chruch from state, in order to pursue PHYSICS.]