Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery, Part 76. The graciousness and generosity of our Lord.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
The fifth part of the fruit of the Spirit - nominative singular feminine noun chrestotes - crhstovth" = kindness, graciousness, generosity, and sensitivity to others.
Moses was in conflict with them in Egypt and in the desert with Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
Jeremiah was fighting with them in Judah.
Ezekiel faced them and called them “foolish prophets” that have followed their own spirit and have seen nothing.
The apostle Paul called them “preachers of another gospel,” Gal 1, and purveyors of the doctrines of demons,1TI 4:1.
PSA 94:8 Pay heed, you senseless among the people; and when will you understand, stupid ones!
LUK 15:1-2 Now all the tax-collectors and the prostitutes were coming near him to listen to him. And both Pharisees and scribes were constantly complaining about it, and they said, “This man constantly welcomes prostitutes and dines with them.”
One of the big thrusts of psychology is “to trust in yourself.”
PSA 62:9 Men of low degree are only vanity, and men of rank are a lie; In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than breath.
ISA 2:22 Stop regarding man, whose breath {of life} is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?
Your personal sense of destiny is your spiritual self-esteem and is far, far greater than human self-esteem.
There are no weaknesses in God’s plan; all of the weaknesses are in us.
The tax-collector was a Roman aristocrat but considered by the Jews to be the lowest of all social rank at the time of writing.
JOH 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized though Jesus Christ.
The tax collectors were the aristocracy of Rome.
The prostitutes, in the hypocrisy in Israel, were always considered the lowest of low.
A publican was a tax-collector.
The chief-publicans were Romans and hated by all patriotic Jews.
The publicans were despised and hated as a class of people, so that their unpopularity was only exceeded by the Pharisee and scribe hatred of the prostitutes.
Users were men, including scribes and Pharisees, who relieved their sexual tensions with prostitutes, and then, in the function of self-justification, excused their evil with the arrogance skills.
The publican was generally a loser who came to Israel as a renegade, managing an arbitrary tax system to extort money and make his fortune as he was collecting taxes.
They go crazy because they move into the second stage of the arrogance skills, self-deception.
This leads to self-absorption where they take their very own flaws and super-impose them on others.
“Contempt” -
pres-act-part - exoutheneo = disgust, hatred, disrespect, to utterly despise or disdain.
In this parable, TLJC reproves and condemns two sins: improper confidence in ourselves and pride in despising others.
To maintain their position, the Pharisees practiced every form of evil from religious activism, hypocrisy, self-justification, self-deception, self-absorption to tyranny.
In his self-righteous arrogance and self-justification, the Pharisee assumes in self-deception that God is impressed with his works.
Self-deception results in denial and projection, malice, vilification, revenge, bitterness, implacability, hatred, self-pity.
The Pharisee was probably even following the Roman aristocrat, the tax-collector, and he wanted to make it clear that the tax collector was mixed up.
Aor-pass-part - histemi =
to take a stand.
Passive voice = something caused the Pharisee to take a stand, his so-called good works.
Per-act-part - histemi
Perfect tense = this was always his attitude to stand in a position of humility before God.
Williams translation -
“The Pharisee stood and said this self centered prayer.”
The Pharisee used 29 words in his prayer to the publican’s six.
1. That he was not created a Gentile.
2. That he was not a Plebeian or an ordinary Roman citizen.
3. That he was not born a woman.