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Re: Christ's Commandments
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Eph 4:32 . . Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
(chuckle) that resembles a line from one of Bill And Ted's adventure movies: "Be excellent to each other"
Within the context of the letter Paul wrote and sent to the Christians residing in the ancient city of Ephesus; the objects "one another" and "each other" are exclusive; viz: the comments refer only to one's fellow Bible-believing Christians rather than the world at large. So if you're unwilling to be kind and compassionate to outsiders; at least be so with people at church so as to help prevent church from becoming a hostile worship environment.
The koiné Greek word for "kind" is chrestos (khrase-tos') which means: employed; viz: useful.
Chrestos is found in only seven places in the New Testament, and without exception implies being beneficial to others for their own good rather than using people for a selfish purpose of your own.
The word for "compassionate" is eusplagchnos (yoo'-splangkh-nos) which means: sympathetic.
Webster's defines sympathy as: 1) an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other, 2) inclination to think or feel alike: emotional or intellectual accord, 3) feeling of loyalty: tendency to favor or support, 4) the act, or capacity, of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another, 5) sensitivity, and 6) heart; as in "have a heart".
Eusplagchnos would make a good substitute for a word found in one of The Lord's beatitudes.
"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." (Matt 5:7)
"merciful" is from the koiné Greek word eleemon (el-eh-ay'-mone) which means pretty much the same thing as eusplagchnos: compassionate and sympathetic.
In my dad's final months of battling with a terminal cancer back in the late 1960's, he was in a great deal of pain and discomfort which made it difficult for him to sleep. In fact, he couldn't sleep in a bed at all. He sat on a small stool and rested face-down with his forehead on a coffee table in the front room.
One day, as we were driving to our week-end ritual of coffee and donuts on a Saturday morning, he complained that his third wife (call her Rosa) seemed indifferent to his condition. He remarked that he didn't want sympathy, just some understanding. Well, I was both perplexed and amused; and asked him: Dad, how can Rosa possibly appreciate your feelings without being sympathetic?
Dad was stumped. The problem was, he never knew his own father; and his mother abandoned him with relatives when he was just a toddler. My dad was a tough, self reliant old ex-Navy farm boy who himself was thoroughly unable to sympathize with anybody. In his prime, Dad was a brutal man, given to outbursts of rage and purple epithets. He was defensive, combative, thoughtless, and quite cruel to animals too. In my dad's mind, sympathy was for panty-waists not for "real men" but there he was in old age, dying of a terminal cancer; and starving for compassion-- something he'd wanted all his life but could never admit.
It used to be that Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts were trained to be useful to others as just simply a matter of good deeds and good citizenship. I don't know, maybe they still are; but I've known lots of churchians who were totally useless to others because they're infected with an ugly spirit of conceit, rivalry, and indifference. Far from being kind and compassionate; those Christians are actually sociopathic and don't even know it.
The word "forgiving" is charizomai (khar-id'-zom-ahee) which essentially means: to grant as a favor; viz: gratuitously, i.e. courtesy.
Webster's defines gratuitous as: 1) given unearned or without recompense, 2) not involving a return benefit or compensation or consideration, 3) costing nothing: free, 4) not called for by the circumstances: unwarranted, 5) complimentary, 6) gratis, and 7) voluntary. In other words; charizomai seeks no reciprocation; it never says "you owe me one"
Sailors are oft heard to say that the sea is very unforgiving: meaning it allows no room for error or weakness. Christians ought not be like the sea. We ought to be the most forgiving people on the planet; and not because we expect others to reciprocate; but just because we enjoy being gratuitous. For some Christians though, courtesy is an effort.
Eph 4:31-32 isn't easy. What we're looking at there is not just good citizenship; no, what we're looking at is something divine in both its nature and its behavior.
"If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." (Phil 2:1-2)
The koiné Greek word for "bowels" is splagchnon (splangkh'-non) which means: an intestine. Your gut is the very place where you "feel" pity and/or sympathy for others-- that is; if you're capable of those kinds of feelings; not everyone is.
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Eph 4:32 . . Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
(chuckle) that resembles a line from one of Bill And Ted's adventure movies: "Be excellent to each other"
Within the context of the letter Paul wrote and sent to the Christians residing in the ancient city of Ephesus; the objects "one another" and "each other" are exclusive; viz: the comments refer only to one's fellow Bible-believing Christians rather than the world at large. So if you're unwilling to be kind and compassionate to outsiders; at least be so with people at church so as to help prevent church from becoming a hostile worship environment.
The koiné Greek word for "kind" is chrestos (khrase-tos') which means: employed; viz: useful.
Chrestos is found in only seven places in the New Testament, and without exception implies being beneficial to others for their own good rather than using people for a selfish purpose of your own.
The word for "compassionate" is eusplagchnos (yoo'-splangkh-nos) which means: sympathetic.
Webster's defines sympathy as: 1) an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other, 2) inclination to think or feel alike: emotional or intellectual accord, 3) feeling of loyalty: tendency to favor or support, 4) the act, or capacity, of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another, 5) sensitivity, and 6) heart; as in "have a heart".
Eusplagchnos would make a good substitute for a word found in one of The Lord's beatitudes.
"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." (Matt 5:7)
"merciful" is from the koiné Greek word eleemon (el-eh-ay'-mone) which means pretty much the same thing as eusplagchnos: compassionate and sympathetic.
In my dad's final months of battling with a terminal cancer back in the late 1960's, he was in a great deal of pain and discomfort which made it difficult for him to sleep. In fact, he couldn't sleep in a bed at all. He sat on a small stool and rested face-down with his forehead on a coffee table in the front room.
One day, as we were driving to our week-end ritual of coffee and donuts on a Saturday morning, he complained that his third wife (call her Rosa) seemed indifferent to his condition. He remarked that he didn't want sympathy, just some understanding. Well, I was both perplexed and amused; and asked him: Dad, how can Rosa possibly appreciate your feelings without being sympathetic?
Dad was stumped. The problem was, he never knew his own father; and his mother abandoned him with relatives when he was just a toddler. My dad was a tough, self reliant old ex-Navy farm boy who himself was thoroughly unable to sympathize with anybody. In his prime, Dad was a brutal man, given to outbursts of rage and purple epithets. He was defensive, combative, thoughtless, and quite cruel to animals too. In my dad's mind, sympathy was for panty-waists not for "real men" but there he was in old age, dying of a terminal cancer; and starving for compassion-- something he'd wanted all his life but could never admit.
It used to be that Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts were trained to be useful to others as just simply a matter of good deeds and good citizenship. I don't know, maybe they still are; but I've known lots of churchians who were totally useless to others because they're infected with an ugly spirit of conceit, rivalry, and indifference. Far from being kind and compassionate; those Christians are actually sociopathic and don't even know it.
The word "forgiving" is charizomai (khar-id'-zom-ahee) which essentially means: to grant as a favor; viz: gratuitously, i.e. courtesy.
Webster's defines gratuitous as: 1) given unearned or without recompense, 2) not involving a return benefit or compensation or consideration, 3) costing nothing: free, 4) not called for by the circumstances: unwarranted, 5) complimentary, 6) gratis, and 7) voluntary. In other words; charizomai seeks no reciprocation; it never says "you owe me one"
Sailors are oft heard to say that the sea is very unforgiving: meaning it allows no room for error or weakness. Christians ought not be like the sea. We ought to be the most forgiving people on the planet; and not because we expect others to reciprocate; but just because we enjoy being gratuitous. For some Christians though, courtesy is an effort.
Eph 4:31-32 isn't easy. What we're looking at there is not just good citizenship; no, what we're looking at is something divine in both its nature and its behavior.
"If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." (Phil 2:1-2)
The koiné Greek word for "bowels" is splagchnon (splangkh'-non) which means: an intestine. Your gut is the very place where you "feel" pity and/or sympathy for others-- that is; if you're capable of those kinds of feelings; not everyone is.
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