Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Love?

At the Book of the Month meeting I mentioned computers permit us to change the word to its definition and by doing that it may make it easier to understand. I came across these samples in one of my blogs.
 
One of the problems we have with understanding the Bible is our language. We use the word "love" for sexual intensity and our view of almonds. We make love and have sex. We love our pets as well as vegetables. In the Bible the same word in our language carries with it different meanings in the original languages. The numbers are reference numbers of the Strong's Concordance.
 

1 John 2:15  

[15] Do not (love in a social or moral sense -25) the world or the things in the world. If anyone (love in a social or moral sense - 25) the world, the (love i.e. affection or benevolence - 26) of the Father is not in him. 

 

1 Corinthians 13

[1] If I speak in the tongues (a language naturally unacquired – 1100) of men and of angels, but have not (love in a social or moral sense – 25, Christian love; the highest level of concern and interest), I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith (conviction of a religious truth or the truthfulness of God – 4102), so as to remove mountains, but have not (love in a social or moral sense - 25, Christian love; the highest level of concern and interest), I am nothing. [3] If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not (love in a social or moral sense - 25, Christian love; the highest level of concern and interest), I gain nothing.

[4] (Love in a social or moral sense - 25, Christian love; the highest level of concern and interest) is patient (with long enduring temper – 3116) and kind; (love in a social or moral sense - 25, Christian love; the highest level of concern and interest) does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5] or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6] it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7] … bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

[8] (Love in a social or moral sense - 25, Christian love; the highest level of concern and interest) never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. [9] For we know in part and we prophesy in part, [10] but when the perfect (complete - 5046) comes, the partial will pass away. [11] When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. [12] For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

[13] So now (faith conviction of a religious truth or the truthfulness of God – 4102), (hope to anticipate, usually with pleasure, expectation or confidence - 1680), and (love in a social or moral sense - 25, Christian love; the highest level of concern and interest) abide, these three; but the greatest of these is (love in a social or moral sense - 25, Christian love; the highest level of concern and interest).

 

I also did one on grace. While the blog entry is much longer these paragraphs convey the general idea.

 

According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, in the KJV Old Testament, the word translated "grace" with one exception is defined as: kindness or favor - 2580. The one exception is Ezra 9:8, where the word is the defined as entreaty, favor, or supplication – 8467.

 

Also according to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible in the KJV New Testament the word translated "grace" with one exception is defined as: "graciousness of manner or act, abstract or concrete, figuratively: spiritual, especially the divine influence on the heart and its reflection in the life - 5485." The one exception is James 1:11 where the word is defined as:  good, suitableness, i.e. gracefulness - 2143.   

 

While reading the Bible when we come upon the word "grace" we can think "favor or kindness of the Lord." Then ask if the term is referring to something specific or something symbolic.

 

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"We are more and more into communications and less and less into communication."
Studs Terkel

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