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Art, Bible, christianity, God, Jesus, Painting, Sunday Scripture
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
~ Romans 13:8-14
Eternity is a long time. A lot longer than 70, 80, or even 100 years in this life. What we do now, what we learn now, and how we treat others now, will all matter in the next life.
God is faithful, God is fair, and God is just. God forces no one to do anything. The choice is always ours (and ours alone) to make. Love God and love your neighbour as yourself. That is our Lord’s command.
Note: Today’s paintings are: Pelegri Clave i Roque’s “The Good Samaritan”, 1838; Piero di Cosimo’s “St. Mary Magdalene”; and Titian’s “Christ Carrying the Cross”, 1565.
Absolutely Wendy but unfortunately some terrible atrocities were committed in the name of religion. People can be very intolerant of others because of differing view points over this topic.
Also what is latest in my favourite cartoon character?
“Eternity is a long time. A lot longer than 70, 80, or even 100 years in this life. What we do now, what we learn now, and how we treat others now, will all matter in the next life.”
That’s a very powerful reminder, Wendy. Thank you!
It’s something I have to remind myself of all the time, Dan, when I start getting too worked up about things that are going on. All of this is just getting us ready for what’s still to come. We’d best put in the effort now!
Beautiful, and striking – the phraseology “let no debt remain outstanding” in particular. It resonated with Matthew 18:21-35, a text we’ve been studying recently.
(If you get a chance and don’t mind, I’m curious to know what version of the Bible this comes from. NRSV has it “owe no one anything” – which is not nearly as poetic! Just going to show that the version makes a difference.)
I don’t mind at all! This is from the NIV — which you can always assume is what I’m quoting from on my blog, though I will occasionally use the KJV when I feel the language is a bit more poignant. In this case, the KJV is actually more similar to your NRSV, “Owe no man any thing”.
If you look up this occurrence of the word “owe” in the Strong’s Concordance, the reference number is 3784: Opheio, or Opheileo. It says: “prob. from the base of 3786 (through the idea of accruing); to owe (pecuniarily); fig. to be under obligation (ought, must, should); more. to fail in duty:–behove, be bound, (be) debt (-or), (be) due (-ty), be guilty (indebted), (must) need (-s), ought, owe, should.”
We can see that the original word used in this verse meant a lot more than just “owe” in the general sense we usually think of it. So I really like how the NIV has managed to phrase it in a way that shows us just how all-encompassing the meaning of Paul’s statement to us here truly is.
Thank you very much! This all makes sense. NRSV tends to take a more literal approach – though not always! – which was also true of KJV; I think NIV is more “dynamic equivalent” – which sometimes, like here, really works. (Nice to have collected this specific example, too.) Have a great day!
While I always lean towards the NIV, I’m definitely an advocate of using multiple sources and translations when you really want to know what it’s saying, because even the NIV (especially the newer version which I don’t use at all) gets some things wrong — looking at something too literally, or trying to oversimplify something the “author” is saying and then missing the meaning altogether. In my opinion, after a Bible, a Strong’s Concordance is a must-have for anyone in their library because it’s showing us the meaning of the words in their original language.
(Also, I’m very sorry that your comment went into my spam folder this time! No idea why it did that. Glad I’m in the habit of checking the spam instead of just deleting it all! :P) God bless!